


During the Mayhem

by a_borderlands_tale (weaving_a_tale)



Series: The Pandora Saga [3]
Category: Borderlands, Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2016-01-30
Packaged: 2018-05-09 03:52:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 42,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5524367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weaving_a_tale/pseuds/a_borderlands_tale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Oh Rhys...we always have a choice. Whether it's the right one or not we can never tell until it's too late."</p><p>She meets the cyborg's eyes.</p><p>"You should know that better than anyone."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Stage Is Set

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Holidays everyone! 
> 
> [consider this a Christmas present for all you Rhyiona shippers]

_"I do not expect you to understand why I did what I did."_  
  
_Funny how such a simple phrase can pack such a punch if said the right way._  
  
_She's a petite sort of woman, her neon violet hair kept back in a simplistic braid as she watches the man before her lean back against his desk. He crosses one long leg over the other, mismatched eyes meeting violet ones the hue of Eridium slag._  
  
_"Maybe I don't want to."_  
  
_The words are sharp and cold, but his hands still visibly shake as he crosses his arms across his chest._  
  
_He's frightened of her._  
  
_She doesn't blame him for it._  
  
_She's terrified of herself as well. Of what she's become. Of who she is now._  
  
_She wonders if the circumstances were different, if the pair of them would have gotten along. If he had not made his decisions, and she had not made hers._  
  
_But there was no use dwelling on what could have been._  
  
_Otherwise the guilt would swallow her whole._  
  
_He looks like he's debating reaching into his desk drawer for his pistol (Atlas tech, a source of pride) so that he can end this once and for all._  
  
_But he needs her just as much as she needs him._  
  
_And he strikes her as the sort of fellow to not want to shoot someone when their hands have been tied behind their back. When they can't defend themselves._  
  
_It's a precaution, he tells her._  
  
_She knows it's more of a power play. Something to indicate that he's the one in control now._  
  
_The doors behind her slide open and heels click against_ tiled _floor. She visibly tenses as the figure circles around her to stand beside the man._  
  
_"Has she told you anything?" The woman asks coolly, her almost-blonde hair framing her attractive features, and the woman tied to the chair launches forward before she can even think._  
  
_She scoots forward pathetically, barely moving and a smirk graces the other woman's features._  
  
_"She was just about to," the man replies. "So, let me guess...it all began with a deal you couldn't refuse?"_  
  
_The woman in the chair turns to the woman standing beside him._  
  
_"I'm not telling you a single thing if she is here."_  
  
_"You don't exactly have a choice," the man replies._  
  
_"Oh Rhys...we always have a choice. Whether it's the right one or not we can never tell until it's too late."_  
  
_She meets the cyborg's eyes._  
  
_"You should know that better than anyone."_

  
  
  
It was a simple fact that war had not just arrived in the months following the joyful return of Rhys and Fiona....it had utterly levelled Pandora.  
  
Gun companies were disappearing left and right, the Vault Hunters seemed to have permanently locked themselves away in the floating city of Sanctuary, and the rest of Pandora's citizens were too busy fighting each other for scraps of what remained to really pay attention.  
  
Pandora was a ticking bomb, and Rhys wasn't so sure he wanted to be on it when it went off.  
  
It didn't help that there was apparently some vigilante wandering around, picking clean what remained of the gun companies that couldn't fight off the Eridians, the psychos, or whoever this person was.  
  
War turned out to be a breeding ground for grand tales, and Rhys would be lying if he said he was calm about the rumours that arose. That there was someone out there who could pick clean a gun company in a matter of hours, destroy it from within.  
  
Tediore, Vladorf, Torgue and now, Dahl. All had collapsed after the rumoured sighting of whoever this person was.  
  
Which made the remaining companies all the more eager to keep themselves in existence by any means.  
  
The alliance was only supposed to be temporary, a response to the collapse of Vladorf a few months ago. Protection in exchange for collaboration of ideas and technology.  
  
Of course, when the companies fell those that remained took full advantage. Picked apart what this "Nemesis of Pandora" had left behind.  
  
Which was what Rhys was currently doing, maneuvering over fallen support beams as workers from Atlas searched through the wreckage.  
  
He stood out, in his pristine black suit with golden buttons the same colour as his ECHOeye. The woman standing beside him in a clearly expensive sleeveless dress picked up what remained of a Reaver's Edge and inspected it before she looked at him.  
  
"They stripped it for parts," the blonde woman commented, her voice calm as she turned over what remained of the gun in her hands. "It's practically useless."  
  
"And the rest?" Rhys asked as he nodded to the rubble. She shook her head and he swore a little.  
  
"They cleaned most of the place out, and anything that remains the other companies want a piece of," the woman replied with a sigh.  
  
"And we can't afford to try to fight them for it," Rhys retorted with a sigh of his own.  
  
Perks of taking over a fallen company? No one to fight for the top position. If you wanted it, it was yours.  
  
Cons?  
  
People were certain you would fall again. And if it benefitted them, would aid in your company's implosion.  
  
And he thought Hyperion had been bad.  
  
"So why are we here then?" Rhys asked, and the blonde smiled as she typed something into her ECHOcomm.  
  
"Because the other companies aren't going to know the collapse happened for a solid hour," she replied. "Just enough time to get what we need."  
  
Rhys looked at her with surprise before a smirk that matched hers graced his features.  
  
"Knew there was a reason I kept you around Hera," he declared and she laughed.  
  
"No, you keep me around because I'm the only one willing to work for close to nothing," she retorted and he grinned.  
  
"Hey, you had the chance to work somewhere else, don't blame me for your bad decisions," Rhys replied.  
  
"But it's just so much fun!" Hera retorted before she went back to whatever was on her ECHO. "Besides, I'm not sure any other company would want to take me on account of...well, you know."  
  
Rhys glanced down to her arms, the left one adorned by long swirling patterns of pale violet.  
  
"You could always go with the Vault Hunters," he reminded her and she laughed.  
  
"And let you drive Atlas into ruin?" She replied with a grin. "Not a chance."  
  
"I wouldn't drive it into ruin," he grumbled and she just shook her head fondly.  
  
She knelt down, picking up a gun in semi-decent condition and tossing it to him, which he fumbled with before he caught it.  
  
He scanned it with his ECHO, the usual information about Dahl weaponry displayed.  
  
He stored it away before his eye caught something that made him pause.  
  
Resting on top of a pile of rubble was a memory drive, a relic from the early days of Pandora.  
  
If Dahl was using technology that old it was no wonder it had fallen this easily.  
  
He approached it and picked it up between metallic fingers, turning it over in his palm a few times.  
  
He scanned it for good measure, though what flashed on his screen instead of the usual information made his heart begin to pound in his ears.  
  
"Enjoy your scrounging, Rhys."  
  
"Find something?" Hera asked as he shoved the device into his pocket, the text still up on his ECHOeye before he shut it down.  
  
He gave her his best smile before he shook his head.  
  
"Nothing but Dahl junk."

  
  
  
Fiona bandaged her arm as the rest of the team argued over how they would divide their latest batch of loot ten ways.  
  
Strange to think how easily life had gone back to their version of normal after everything that had happened.  
  
Sasha had gone off-planet, working with August of all people as a gun runner for the planets in need of choice weaponry.  
  
Vaughn was still in charge of the Children of Helios, though he did make time when he could to visit Sanctuary. Usually to try to convince Lilith to give a few of the Crimson Lance to his colony of misfits in hopes of training and/or protecting them.  
  
Not that Lilith ever agreed. Hyperion and its former workers were still the enemy to her, and agreeing to help them was equivalent to "pissing on Roland's grave" as Mordecai put it.  
  
Which made it all the more complicated when it came to Fiona's, ahem, friendship with one former Hyperion middle-manager turned CEO of Atlas.  
  
If they could even call what they had a friendship anymore.  
  
Fiona had not been sure what she had expected after the events of the Vault of the Traveller...but it wasn't for Rhys to become her sole confidante.  
  
It wasn't intentional, really. It was just...easier.  
  
The others knew, but they couldn't understand. What Rhys and her had lost in these other universes.  
  
Fiona was aware of the alternative. That they withdraw from each other, pretend none of it happened. Hell, the Fiona of a year ago would have done just that.  
  
But the Fiona of a year ago never thought she'd become so...attached to him either.  
  
It was an excess attachment she knew she didn't need, but she had made it anyways.  
  
And what terrified her was how little she regretted it, how unguarded she was about it all.  
  
Because anything good on Pandora didn't tend to last. Not that Rhys was technically good.  
  
Then again, neither was she.  
  
She was jerked out of her thoughts as her ECHOcomm pinged. She looked down at the screen, a small smile on her features as she read the message.  
  
"Sneak away from Sanctuary. I need to see you. Rhys."  
  
She quickly typed a reply before something was tossed at her feet. She jumped a little before she looked down, a small stack of cash bound neatly together.  
  
"Here's your cut from the mission," Lilith declared indifferently, and before Fiona could respond Lilith had gone to her room. Well, Roland's, technically.  
  
"She means good work," Mordecai translated, and Fiona nodded to herself as she counted the cash.  
  
She tried not to dwell on the fact that she had been given less than everyone else. 

  
  
  
_"So, was it the right choice then?" Hera asks coolly, and the young woman tied to the chair allows her mouth to curl into a grimace._  
  
_"That implies I was able to make a choice at all," she snarls, every syllable dripping venom. "That I had any say in what followed."_

_"It doesn't seem like you were forced," Rhys murmurs more to himself than her, and she visibly bristles. "From what I can tell, you were more than happy to follow him to the ends of Pandora."_

_She looks at him and laughs sharply._

_"Who says I was talking about him?"_


	2. Threats Are Made

_Hera does_ _not respond to that, the question hanging in the air before she shakes her head and crosses her arms in what appears to be frustration._

_The young woman smiles a little._

_"So, you still haven't told us what made you decide to help him," Rhys declares, and the woman's smile fades as rapidly as it appeared._

_She meets the cyborg's eyes again, her eyes appearing to shift to a pale orange as her hair takes on the same hue._

_"You didn't hear the screams."_

  
It's an abandoned outpost of Atlas, one that Rhys told his workers was in too much disrepair to be worth salvaging.

He pushed open the door, already grinning as he took in the sight of Fiona standing by one of the monitors, examining the buttons on the console as she crossed her arms and frowned.

She tentatively reached out and rested her hand on a few of the keys, and Rhys noticed her hand shook a little.

It was instinctive, approaching her rapidly before he wrapped his arms around her waist.

He half-expected her to press her derringer to his temple in shock, but instead she rested her back against his chest, sighing before he pressed a small kiss to the side of her neck.

"There was nothing you could have done differently," Rhys murmured before he kissed her temple. "She made her decision."

"She shouldn't have had to make a decision at all," Fiona replied angrily, though she began to relax in his arms as he turned her around.

His metal head rested against her cheek as he stroked it softly and nodded, a sad smile on his features.

_**Angel deserved more than she ever got.** _

That was the thought that hung between them as Fiona tried not to allow herself to be swallowed up in her memories, gripping Rhys tightly.

"We'll find her, I promise," Rhys declared. The same promise he made every time he saw her, and Fiona smiled a little at his belief that Angel still existed in this universe.

She wished she could have that kind of hope. But Pandora had taught her to never be hopeful of anything, a lesson she had learned all too quickly.

Rhys helped her begin to have a cautious sort of optimism, though.

Namely that whatever it was this was between them could last.

She tilted his head down, his forefinger and thumb resting on his chin, holding it in place as she stood on her toes and tasted the expensive wine on his tongue.

He'd come from a fancy dinner, apparently.

It was the same intricate dance they always did, of mouths that collided with a desperation neither wanted to admit and hands that at times gripped too tightly.

Yet she couldn't help but adore it every time. Because it was a reminder, that she wasn't alone. That despite everything, she _actually_ had him.

And there was no way in hell she was letting go after everything she had witnessed.

She pulled away first, a proud grin on her face as how he swayed a little with a dazed sort of smile on his features.

"So what is it you need me for exactly?" She asked with a cock an eyebrow, already anticipating some cheesy response she would roll her eyes at.

The smile on his face faded a little before he reached into his pocket, pulling out a slim memory drive.

"I found this today when I was going through the remains of the Dahl corporation," he declared as he held out the memory drive to her. "When I went to scan it, it greeted me. Told me to enjoy my scrounging."

Fiona looked at the memory drive and then back at him before she took step away from him and crossed her arms.

"Rhys...." She began warningly as her stomach clenched automatically. As memories of those mismatched eyes scanning over every inch of her frame before it shifted to a pair of hands wrapped around her neck flashed through her head.

"I didn't shove it into my head, if that's what you're worried about," Rhys replied with a small chuckle, trying to lighten the mood. Failing mostly, but trying nevertheless.

"Pardon my skepticism due to recent events," Fiona replied as she watched him cautiously.

He approached one of the consoles, taking a deep breath before slipping the memory drive into an empty port.

"You're the one who wanted to find the money so badly," Rhys reminded her.

"Well if I'd known...." Fiona began.

"If any of us had known we would have just tossed the drive," Rhys interrupted her.

Fiona thought about it this for a few moments before she smiled to herself a little.

"And then we would have tossed you out of the caravan since you couldn't track the money," she replied as the screen before them flickered to life.

Rhys was about to retort when a figure appeared on the screen.

It was a woman in her early twenties, her auburn hair plaited back as her wide green eyes looked into the camera.

"I hope you enjoyed picking Dahl clean," the woman declared. "Funny how the biggest companies crumble the fastest. Consider it a parting gift and a warning to leave Pandora. Because if you stay, you will have to watch Atlas end just as the rest have. Watch it become a pile of rubble for the bandits to fight over. So do yourself a favour…and leave."

The message ended, the frozen image of the young woman still locked on the screen as Rhys crossed his arms and frowned, making a small noise in the back of his throat.

"What?" Fiona asked as he began to shake his head.

"Why now?" He muttered to himself more than her, typing something into the console.

"Why now _what_?" Fiona asked, starting to grow impatient as she approached the console.

Rhys bit his lip a little before he sighed, looking back up at the screen before he turned to her.

"Nemesis has been picking apart the other manufacturers for months…why the sudden threats?" Rhys asked as he looked at her. "And why me in particular?"

"Maybe she was a former Hyperion pissed off that you crashed Helios?" Fiona replied with a small shrug as she stood beside him. "You've told me how cutthroat Hyperion was…wouldn't surprise me if one of its workers was keen to try to take over Pandora…"

Rhys shook his head emphatically.

"The Children of Helios are the only Hyperion that survived the crash, and from what Vaughn tells me they're all more than happy to leave the company life behind."

Rhys snorted a little.

"Besides, they worship the ground I walk on," he mused and Fiona rolled her eyes.

"Still don't understand that," Fiona confessed and Rhys grinned at her.

"What? You don't think I'm worthy of idolization?" He asked as he wiggled his eyebrows and she just shook her head, unable to mask the small smile on her lips before she nudged him gently with her shoulder.

"Adoration, maybe. Idolization, not a chance in hell," she replied fondly, causing him to smile a little before he leaned in, his mouth hovering over hers before a pinging sound went through the room. He pulled away with a huff of frustration.

The screen flashed "Match found" before it pulled up multiple images. The image on top showed a young woman with cropped auburn hair and green eyes, beaming as she had her arm wrapped around a woman with long black hair who was kissing her cheek.

"Amanda Jackson. Dahl Defense, Squadron 5 under command of Colonel Zarpadeon. MIA, presumed d-" Rhys murmured as he read her information before the monitor flickered sharply. He looked at the last sentence again and frowned. "Sorry, just MIA."

"Guess she's no longer missing," Fiona declared as the pair glanced at the frozen image.

Rhys frowned to himself.

"Guess not. "

Maybe it was the paranoia from having a psychotic AI lodged into his brain…but something felt horrifically off about all this.

He glanced over at Fiona to see she was frowning as well, her arms crossed as she stared at the image.

"What?" Rhys asked as she continued to stare at the image.

"Something seems off," Fiona declared and Rhys sighed a little in relief.

"You think so too?" Rhys asked as she turned to look at him.

"Bit hard not to," Fiona confessed. "It just…it doesn't make sense for her to reveal her identity now, when you have enough companies backing you that any attack she makes can be fended off as soon as her face triggers your systems."

Rhys nodded for her to continue.

"So it's either meant to throw us off…or she's confident enough to think you don't have a chance in hell of stopping her."

Fiona met his eyes.

"And I'm tempted to think it's the latter."

"So what do you suggest?" Rhys asked.

Fiona thought about it for a few moments before she smiled a little.

"How opposed are you to Vault Hunters?"

 

_Rhys isn't going to lie…this whole interrogation feels like a process of three steps forward, five steps back._

_She appears to be clamming up every single time Hera tries to ask her a question, and Rhys knows it's holding them back._

_So he makes the probably horrific decision to send Hera away. Convince her that she's needed in Kratos to manage a new batch of weaponry whose, ahem, questionable technology may need a few tweaks._

_He comes back to the room where they are holding the young woman and sits down across from her._

_He opens his mouth to speak when she cuts him off._

_"Where's your friend?" The woman asks and Rhys is tempted to lie, say that she's stepped out to try to make arrangements to claim the bounty on the head of the woman before him._

_"She was called away on urgent business," Rhys replies instead, and he fights back a small grin of triumph as the woman appears to relax a little. "So he began to yell for help. We both know you did just that, or I wouldn't be talking to you."_

_Th woman nods as she gives him a cautious look._

_"Bit strange to say though, considering…" Rhys trails off, hoping she will take the bait._

_"I didn't actually hear screams," she replies smoothly. Oh, she's good. "It was more that I could…sense them."_

_"Sense them? Interesting," Rhys comments. "And the sense was strong enough to make you want to break into a high-security room with the certainty you would find something there?"_

_She pauses for a moment._

_"Yes," she answers eventually. She looks a little uncertain though, and Rhys uses it to his advantage._

_"You don't seem to have a lot of self-preservation. Others would have walked away as soon as they found him."_

_Rhys leans forward as he watched her._

_"I mean, on account of everything known about him."_

_She chuckles sharply._

_"Call it naivety then. Because when I found him, I didn't know a single damn thing."_


	3. Alliances Are Made

_"You must have known," Rhys replies in disbelief, and she can only shrug._

_"Does it really matter?" She asks pointedly. "I found him, I took him and I left."_

_Rhys watches her silently._

_"That's what you want me to say, right?" She inquires as she watches him in turn._

_"You still haven't told me why you would want to," Rhys retorts. She opens her mouth to protest and he cuts her off. "I mean,_ why _take pity on a man like Handsome Jack?"_

_She drops her gaze, looking at her worn slag boots._

_"That's where you're wrong Rhys. It wasn't pity. I…I wasn’t given a choice."_

_"You keep saying that," he points out._

_She looks at him and smiles a little._

_"Maybe because you're just not listening to me."_

 

  
Fiona wasn't going to lie…there was _quite_ a significant chance that the Vault Hunters wouldn't want to help. It was a well-known fact they hated Hyperion, and she suspected disliked Rhys by default for having worked for them.

But she expected they liked a paycheque enough to lose _some_ of their supposed morals.

1, 000,000 dollars to whoever could find the Nemesis of Pandora. Rhys had squirmed when she had suggested that high a bounty, but she knew it would be the only way to convince the Vault Hunters to want to do any sort of job for Atlas.

She tacked the flier up to the notice board in headquarters, half-expecting only a few of the Vault Hunters to take up the offer.

When all of them accepted for some reason or another, she couldn't help but laugh sharply. Guess they were as greedy as any company worker.

Of course, within a month the news spread around Pandora that Atlas was willing to pay good money to whoever could capture this mysterious vigilante. Company workers and bandits alike were on the hunt for whoever this person was, and Rhys was quite happy to focus on other, more pressing concerns involving Atlas.

But of course, there were others who wanted to claim the bounty for themselves. 

People that Rhys never anticipated. 

  
**The opening of the Vault of the Traveller had led to some…interesting developments on Pandora. Interplanetary travel was effortless for those that could pay the right price to Atlas (who of course had laid claim to the land the Vault rested on for themselves), leading many an interested traveller to leave Pandora and claim what they could on other planets.**

**Of course, there were those who cheated the system, those too poor to afford to traverse the universe. Those who snuck into the Vault and prayed that it would take them somewhere profitable. Bandits and Vault Hunters, young and old, all wanted their own claim to riches.**

**But people didn't tend to come back through the Vault, usually settling on these other planets or in these other universes for good. It wasn't like Pandora had much to offer them anymore when the whole universe appeared to be at their fingertips.**

**And yet one day, when an old woman was near the Vault setting up to beg for money from those wealthy enough to leave the dust bowl that was Pandora, she saw something strange.**

**A tall, thin man wearing a worn leather jacket, a dirtied yellow hood covering his head as he shoved his hands into his pockets, trying to look as small as possible as he walked from the entrance of the Vault. There were pistols slung to his hips, and she swore she saw a thin knife concealed in a jacket pocket, the metal glinting for a moment in the bright Pandoran sun.**

**That was not what struck her as strange, though.**

**What made her remember him was the fact he dropped a few bills into the pot she had set out before her. She couldn't help but notice the briefest flash of a clunky tattoo on his wrist, of pale white that stood out against his tanned skin.**

**Before she could thank him, he had disappeared.**

  
Jakobs, surprisingly, was the next to collapse. Within the span of 24 hours the main facility had been reduced to rubble, the identity of the Nemesis still unknown.

Fiona had assured Rhys that the perpetrator would be found before they even stepped a metre within Kratos…but he couldn't help but feel a knot begin to coil in his stomach.

While he sent Hera to gather what supplies they could from the wreckage, he grabbed himself a vehicle and sped off into the desert.

  
He'd tried to convince Vaughn to get Helios re-coordinated into the Fast Travel network, but for some reason his best bro refused consistently. Something about wanting to distance himself from his old life as much as possible.

 _He_ wasn't the one that had to dodge Rakks and Skags every time he drove out into the desert to visit the society amongst the Helios ruins.

Rhys was tempted at this point to just get one installed and not tell Vaughn about it. Maybe in Jack's old office. No one went in there, from what Vaughn had told him. Something about the ghost of Hyperion past still lurking in there.

Rhys had averted his eyes at that.

He didn't want to tell Vaughn how accurate that was.

As per usual he was greeted by a few of the former Hyperions put on watch, all giving him small bows as he passed and he couldn't help but grin to himself a little.

He made his way to Vaughn's main headquarters, nodding to a few people as he passed and smiling as he saw one you woman go beet red at his acknowledgment of her presence.

Yep, he never got tired of this. Sure, it was a little douchey to like this…but **by the Eridians** did it feel good regardless.

"Rhys!" Vaughn called out brightly. "You're just in time bro, they're about to test out the guns you sent us!"

Vaughn motioned eagerly for Rhys to look out onto the makeshift shooting range. There was a warning sound before the guns all fired at once. Rhys choked back a laugh as one person went shooting back at the sheer force of the weapon, her back smacking into the nearby wall as Vaughn looked on in concern. A few people helped her to her feet before she waved them off. Vaughn gave Rhys a small glare.

"Sorry," Rhys replied automatically. "But you have to admit, it's a little funny…"

He nudged Vaughn playfully, who's mouth quirked up in a small smile before he nodded.

"So why the sudden break from your workaholic shtick?" Vaughn teased a little and Rhys couldn't help but smile.

"Been thinking about what you told me earlier, about some of the Children of Helios coming to work at Atlas," Rhys responded as they watched the people below reload their weapons. He saw Vaughn glance at him out of the corner of his eye.

"Something going on?" Vaughn asked in interest, crossing his arms as the pair watched another person get jerked back a few inches by the sheer force of the weapon in their hands.

"Why do you say that?" Rhys retorted.

"The last time I asked you if you wanted any of the Children, you just started shaking your head rapidly and rambled about how unnecessary that was," Vaughn replied drily and Rhys scratched the back of his neck as he coughed, trying to subdue the awkwardness. "That you could manage on your own."

"That, err, that was before I saw their full potential?" Rhys replied with a nervous grin.

"Right," Vaughn replied drily, seeing straight through it. "Alright, how many do you need?"

"Enough to defend Atlas against this 'Nemesis of Pandora' business," Rhys replied with a sigh. "Jakobs collapsed last night. Hera's there trying to gather whatever the other companies decided to leave us."

"Remind me again why you're in that alliance?" Vaughn asked as he crossed his arms. "'Cause it looks to me like they're taking a larger quarter than you with every company that falls…."

"Safety in numbers," Rhys replied bitterly.

"The other companies are collapsing left and right, bro. I don't think you should rely on there really being anyone to back you up if this person reaches you," Vaughn replied. "Me, Sasha and the rest of the team excluded, of course."

"I already have some Vault Hunters…" Rhys retorted, causing his best friend to look at him in surprise. "I mean, sort of. They're helping me track down Nemesis. Fiona, err, convinced them."

Vaughn smirked a little.

"And _how_ is she being rewarded for _that_?" Vaughn asked pointedly, causing Rhys to blush a little. He spared his friend the embarassment and moved on, despite how tempting it was for him to tease Rhys for it.  "So you think you can trust them then?"

To say he had not anticipated his friend of over ten years to pursue the con woman was an understatement, and yet that moment outside of the Vault proved otherwise. He couldn't argue though, the pair had a strange sort of symmetry that couldn't be denied. 

"So you think you can trust them then?" Vaughn continued.

"Not in the slightest," Rhys admitted. "But I trust Fiona."

Vaughn clapped his best friend on the shoulder.

"I'll send you some of my people tonight."

Rhys smiled weakly at this before he nodded. 

"Don't worry bro, it'll all work out," Vaughn reassured him with a grin that didn't quite meet his eyes.

Rhys closed his eyes and sighed.

"By the Eridians, I hope so."

  
_"I can't listen if you **don't tell me anything**."_

_The woman looks at Rhys and smiles a little despite herself. Rhys doesn't like the look in her eyes, like the_ power _is back in her corner as she replies._

_"I've said plenty, actually. If I were you I'd learn to listen_ _a little harder. Because sometimes, what a person **doesn't** tell you is more vital than what they do tell you. You should know that as the CEO of Atlas ."_

_Rhys watches her, her hair and eyes turning to a soft violet as she watches him in turn. Calm and unblinking, he can't help but shudder a little as he looks away._

_"Can you tell me at least what brought you to the Helios crash site?"_

_"The same reason I helped Handsome Jack. **I didn't have a choice in the matter**."_


	4. Starting to Crumble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bold and italicized section is a flashback for anyone that might be getting confused about what time frame that section takes place in. :)

_Rhys knows it's a losing battle, that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again in hopes of getting a different result. To keep asking her the same question that she refuses to answer. He can't help himself, though. Because he can't understand from what he knows of Jack why she would even contemplate helping the man that nearly levelled Pandora._

_"Fine. Tell me what happened after you took him then."_

_She looks a little surprised at his response before she answers, the hair going back to a pale orange that seems to catch the fluorescent lighting oddly._

_"Does that matter?"_

  _Rhys grits his teeth in frustration, nearly banging his hand against a nearby desk in reaction._

 " _Can you even understand how much easier this will be if you just cooperate?" He hisses and her eyes widen a little. It's the first time she seems to waver from her cool demeanour, swallowing audibly before she answers._

  _"Then ask me the right questions," she responds._

_"Where did you go after you stole the Handsome Jack AI?" Rhys retorts sharply, and she shakes her head. "Why did you think it would end well, taking pity on that psychopath? Do you even understand the damage you have cost me?"_

_"Still not the right ones, Rhys," she replies and he looks like he's on the edge of just snapping her neck and being done with it. It would be so much easier than all this…and he can't lie, he's sorely tempted._

_But then he remembers the woman in the next room and he shudders out a sigh._

_"Just who the hell do you think you are?" Rhys asks lowly, every word measured._

_The woman before him smiles._

_"_ **_Now_ ** _you're asking the right questions."_

 

Rhys returned to Kratos to find his desk covered in schematics for Jakobs weaponry, and Hera pouring over them as she frowned.

She was an attractive woman, Rhys had to admit that, and he knew if the circumstances were different he'd probably have her around as more than an assistant. God knew people suspected that much anyways.

The wedding band she wore on a chain around her neck glinted in the fluorescent lighting as she turned to face him. At least, Rhys suspected it was a wedding band. She didn't speak much about her past before Atlas. 

"Any luck in Helios?" She asked with a hopeful sort of smile and he couldn't help but smile in return. "It went well then?"

"As well as it could have gone, Vaughn is sending over a few of his people to act as security in light of the whole Nemesis thing."

Hera looked a little hesitant.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, half of them don't even know how to properly fire a gun," she reminded him, causing him to sigh.

 "It's not like we have much choice at this point," Rhys replied. "Who's left of the alliance?"

"Maliwan," Hera replied with an audible swallow.

"And who else?" Rhys asked as he looked at the weapons plans, making a note to bring copies down to the engineers to improve upon.

" **Only** Maliwan," Hera retorted, causing Rhys to look at her sharply as his heart thudded in his chest.

"That…that can't be…" he began softly as she nodded. "They're…they're the only ones left?"

"And us," Hera replied.

Rhys ran a hand through his hair as his stomach twisted itself into a sharp knot.

They were running out of time, time he naively believed he had plenty of.

"Please tell me you've made some progress with that AI," he declared and Hera looked surprised before she shook her head.

"She…they still have a major bug in their system, we can't run them just yet," Hera replied.

Rhys gritted his teeth in frustration.

_**It had been the result of paranoia, if he was being honest. A man of pixelated blue always was in the corner of Rhys' mind, and he never wanted a repetition of what he had experienced. Of what he had been forced to do to get rid of that man for good.** _

_**He should have just crushed the eye when he had the chance, and yet he hesitated. He still couldn't comprehend as to why he did it, but the fact of the matter was that the last remnants of Handsome Jack were currently locked away in a safe in the ruins of Jack's office.** _

_**Rhys couldn't trust himself or frankly anyone else in Atlas to keep it in Kratos. At least out in the ruins of Helios he could be reassured if something went wrong Vaughn would crush the eye without hesitation.** _

_**Once Rhys told him the cybernetic eye still existed, of course.** _

_**Point was, he wasn't taking a single chance this time.** _

_**Everyone knew that usually it took a machine to beat another machine, and by similar logic it would take an AI to destroy another AI.** _

_**Hera, as it turned out, was worthy of the goddess title when it came to programming. To say she was gifted was an understatement, and Rhys felt more than happy she was on his side.** _

_**She'd been able to cobble together a defence system for Atlas, one she had affectionately named Addie (Atlas Defense Intelligence v.11.5, if you wanted to get technical). It was an ambitious project, one where the AI would possess the ability to adapt to any threat it perceived. Able to grow more and more intelligent with each passing week.** _

_**And for a few moments it seemed like it would work.** _

_**But then of course, the programming had crashed spectacularly, and Hera was forced to salvage what she could. As it turned out, giving an AI intelligence like that just overloaded the servers and the AI itself.** _

Hera had been working on repairing it for months now and still there seemed to be no good progress. Rhys couldn't blame her, in between all the running around try to grab whatever scraps they could find and all the while trying to manage the Vault of the Traveller of a transportation hub barely left **him** time to do anything but collapse on his desk and snore like a buzzsaw. He couldn't expect much more from her.

The thought about the Vault made him reach into his drawer and pull out a modified medical injector, slipping it into his pocket as he made a mental note to contact Fiona.

"We might not have a choice where ADI is concerned," Rhys replied. "Nemesis is getting too close and we're running out of options. We need to get it functional by the end of the week."

Hera's eyes widened.

"By the end of the week? Rhys, I barely got her…their basic programming functional, there's no way I can get it working by the end of the week! Not to mention I'm also running around doing things for you, when am I going to have the time?" Hera asked.

"Simple. I'm going to manage things on my own for a few days, no assistant necessary, and you'll have the time to get the AI up and working," Rhys replied. The woman before him set her mouth in a thin line, her eyes almost glaring at him before she gave him a curt nod.

"Will that be all, sir?" She asked sharply, and his eyebrows rose before he nodded. She left the room rapidly and Rhys was a little surprised at her behaviour before he shook it off.

They were all under a lot of stress, it wouldn't be a surprise if she was just on edge as he was.

He touched the side of the injector in his pocket, reminding him of what he needed to do. He found the familiar name before he typed some info into his ECHOcomm, making sure to add the coordinates for the Atlas base.

"Fiona. Need to see you in Kratos. Usual place."

 

"Did you know they're taking bets about where I go to twice a month?"

 Fiona slipped off her jacket, tossing it onto the expensive sofa in Rhys' quarters as she sat on the kitchen island. She held out her arm to Rhys, who was currently prepping a syringe as the computer nearby displayed the results of her last few "visits".

 "Any favourites?" Rhys asked as he gripped her arm gently. He gave the crook of her arm a small peck which made Fiona flush a bit darker than she wanted, before Rhys stood up and plunged the syringe in. She looked down at her blood being drawn, feeling a little unnerved at the sight before Rhys clasped her chin gently and forced her to look at him. Funny that she had no problem seeing her own blood after particularly nasty run-ins with Psychos, but seeing her blood leaving her blood through a plastic syringe still made her feel woozy.

"Fiona, just focus on me," he murmured with a small smile as he held her chin. She nodded wordlessly, mismatched eyes of gold and brown meeting pale green as she tried to ignore the pressure in her arm.

Rhys continued to draw the blood for a few moments before he finished, breaking his gaze and taking the needle out of her arm before he applied pressure to the area with some cotton, giving her forehead a kiss for good measure as she spoke.

"Gaige is convinced I'm visiting you to get fitted for a cybernetic arm," Fiona replied drily, causing Rhys to laugh a little. "She says hi, by the way."

"Glad to know at least one of the Vault Hunters likes me," Rhys replied as he prepped the medical injector to go into the other arm covered in long ugly scars.

"No, she just thinks sucking up to you will get her a job," Fiona retorted, making Rhys grin.

 "Tell her if she gets me Nemesis than she'll be hired on the spot in addition to the reward," Rhys declared as he bandaged her arm. Fiona laughed at this before she offered up her other arm. "None of them seem to suspect the truth though?"

Fiona shook her head.

"And you don't plan to tell them either?" Rhys continued as he plunged the injector into her arm, pressing down on the trigger. 

"I think after all their theories, 'treatment for Eridium poisoning' would be a bit of a letdown," Fiona retorted as the medication flowed through her veins.

"Well you'll be happy to know that within a year you might be Eridium free," Rhys replied after she had been given all the medication, removing the plunger before he applied a swab of cotton. He pressed down tightly, his fingers wrapped around her upper arm as his thumb held the cotton in place. "The blood tests show the levels are going down."

"Then I guess I'll have to come up with a better excuse to see you then," Fiona retorted, causing Rhys to smile.

"You don't think you'll be sick of me before that?" Rhys asked teasingly.

"Probably. But I've coped with worse," she responded, wrapping an arm around his neck as she pulled him close. "Besides, it's useful having the Atlas CEO at my beck and call. You think I'm giving that up?"

"I'm not at your beck and call," Rhys protested with a small frown and she smirked before she kissed him lightly. She went to pull away when he gripped her hips and pulled her to him, his hand cupping the back of her head before his mouth met hers again.

She slipped off his jacket as he began to unbutton her shirt, his mouth dropping to the hollow of her neck before he slipped it off completely.

And for a glorious hour, Rhys was able to stop thinking, to stop worrying about vigilantes and Vault Hunters and Atlas. Something he had not realized he needed until he flopped down onto his sofa, his breath laboured as he smiled blissfully. As Fiona watched him with a smirk, buttoning up her shirt.

"Need me for anything else?" Fiona teased as she plopped on her hat.

"Tell your Vault hunting friends the sooner they find Nemesis the better…"

Fiona nodded before she opened the door, giving him a little tip of the hat before she went to close the door, stopping herself at the last moment.

"Oh, Rhys?" Fiona asked, causing him to sit up a little. She gave him this tender little grin. "Thanks. For that. For everything, actually. Just…just wanted to let you know that."

He gave her a tender smile in return before he winked.

"Anytime," he purred, causing her to snort before she rolled her eyes and closed the door.

He flopped back down onto the sofa, intending to close his eyes for just a few moments.

He passed out within seconds, the sleep he'd been losing over all this Nemesis business finally catching up with him.

 

_"My name's Mattie, short for Matilda," the woman in front of Rhys murmurs as he watches her. "Though you probably know me better as…"_

_The door behind them flings open and Hera steps through, causing Mattie to slip her mouth closed as she glares at the blonde. Rhys nods for her to continue, but she just shakes her head._

_"Go on," Rhys encourages, but it seems as if Mattie goes mute, shaking her head silently._

_"Any progress?" Hera asks, and Rhys frowns before he looks at his assistant._

_"I thought you were handling the weapons shipment," Rhys murmurs and she shakes her head._

_"Turns out they didn't need me," Hera replies with a shrug._

_Rhys looks between Mattie and Hera, at their tension and he sighs to himself a little. It's as if Mattie has shut herself down again, and he knows he'll get nothing out of her now._

_So he makes a decision he suspects he will regret._

_"Actually, I was wondering if you could do something else for me?" Rhys asks as he looks at Hera. She looks uncertain, but she nods. "Could you check on Vaughn and the Children of Helios? I want to make sure they're doing alright…."_

_Hera frowns, opening her mouth to protest before it slips closed and she nods dutifully. She gives Mattie an odd glance before she exits, and Rhys sees Mattie release the tension in her shoulders._

_"You were saying…" Rhys inquires, and Mattie glances at the doorway._

_"You're sure she won't return soon?" She asks, and she actually sounds a little, well, scared. Rhys nods._

_Mattie takes a deep breath._

_"Promise me she isn't hiding behind that door," she demands, and Rhys smiles despite himself._

_"Pinky promise," he replies drily as he thinks of another time in his life, back when Hyperion was all that mattered to him. He silently thanks whatever gods exist that Sasha has been kept out of all of this._

_"I mean it," Mattie replies sharply._

_"So do I," Rhys retorts evenly, despite the fact his heart is pounding._

_"Untie me first," she replies hurriedly, and he frowns before he shakes his head. "Do you want to know the truth or not?"_

_He watches her for a few moments. He stands up and pulls out his Atlas-Jakobs hybrid pistol from his desk, clicking on the safety and slipping it into his pocket before he walks  over to her._

_He undoes the ties easily and she rubs her wrists before she stands up. She cautiously approaches the desk, meeting his eyes before she looks down at the grain of the wood._

_She begins to tap on the wood, the knocks meaningless before she looks at him pointedly. He blinks in confusion and she huffs out a sigh before she repeats it, slower this time._

_Wait a second…was she…tapping out binary code?_

_She pauses and looks at him, him nodding for her to repeat it a third time. He counts the taps, murmuring the ones and zeroes as he transcribes them with his ECHOeye. The numbers fill his screen before he translates them, and when he does he looks at her in shock._

_"You need to trust me," she murmurs quickly. "Please."_

_He looks at her before he opens up his palm interface._

_"Guards. Take her back to Cell 11," he declares and her face falls completely. The uniformed men enter from the hallway and grip her arms. "Keep her under constant watch."_

_She looks at him in horror as she's dragged away, closing her eyes before she lets out a piercing scream. The lights in the building buzz and flicker to the point of their filaments nearly snapping before Rhys steps forward, his metal hand resting on the nape of her neck as he leans in close. He presses down and she slumps forward, her mouth hanging open._

_"Take her away."_

_The guards nod before they drag her away, and Rhys waits until they are gone before his hands begin to violently shake, the markings on his left arm pulsating wildly as he takes a few shaky breaths._

_Fiona jerks up in her cot as she hears a sharp crash next door. Without blinking she leaps out of bed, stumbling to the next room over as she rubs at her shoulder._

_What she sees in the doorway makes her eyes widen, of Rhys standing there, markings blazing as he turns to her sharply. Without hesitating she runs forward, gripping his face and forcing his eyes to meet her own._

_"Rhys, focus on me," she commands as he looks at her with eyes hardened like jewels. They begin to soften as she strokes his cheek with her thumb, never breaking his gaze as he begins to shake. A bit of liquid, bright like Eridium slag leaks from the corner of his mouth and he wipes at it as he closes his eyes._

_"Are you alright?" Fiona asks him sharply, and he refuses to look at her. "Hey jackass, answer the question…."_

_He looks at her then and chuckles weakly._

_"What the hell happened?" She continues, and he shakes his head before he responds._

_"I…I think I need your help."_


	5. The Capture of Nemesis…the Collapse of Atlas?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Rhys/Fiona perspective this time (for good reason), but I promise it will return in the next chapter! 
> 
> Italics is the present, bold is the alternate narrative in the past.

**_Hera's project didn't fail. My name is ADI. She's behind Nemesis._** **_Just ask Jack._**

_Those words runs through Rhys' mind as he walks down the corridors of Atlas, to a special kind of cell. He stands at the door for a moment, his metallic hand hovering over the keypad before he takes a deep breath and types in the code._

_A large monitor greets him, the screen black and Rhys wonders if he should just walk away now when the monitor switches on._

_His heart pounds as his chest constricts, as he remembers his own hand curled around his throat._

_"_ **_This_ ** _is what commitment looks like you little fraud! "_

_The man on the screen gives him a slow sort of grin, shit-eating and so goddamn smug that Rhys feels tempted to just rip out the power._

_"_ **_This_ ** _is leadership! "_

_He'd done so much to get away from him…and yet here Rhys is, once again facing a large screen talking to a ghost of Hyperion past._

_"_ **_This_ ** _is being a_ **_goddamn hero_ ** _!"_

_"Hello Rhysie. I'd ask if ya missed me, but c'mon, we both already know you did. Have to say, lovin' the new look! Black suits you kiddo…"_

_T_ _here's a brief sort of pause ask Rhys struggles to speak, his Adam's apple bobbing as he tries to figure out exactly_ **_what_ ** _to ask the figure before him. Where to even begin._

_"I know about ADI," he settles on, and the blue figure snorts._

_"Hope you would, your company owns her ass after all…" Jack retorts easily, and Rhys hates this. This feeling sinking in already that he's not good enough for Jack's approval, and Rhys is disgusted with himself that he still cares._

_"Why her? Why did you pick her?" Rhys asks gently and Jack shrugs._

_"Because Hera didn't design her for you…she made ADI for me. Simple choice."_

_Rhys ignores the lead weight settling in his stomach at this statement, already feeling a heat curl in his belly as his markings begin to glow._

_"Well_ **_that's_ ** _a new development," Jack comments drily as he looks at Rhys' tattoos, pulsating neon violet. "What? You a Siren now or something?"_

_"What do you mean, she was_ **_made for you_ ** _?" Rhys interrupts._

_"She was designed to accept my programming if I ever got into your systems."_

_Jack smiles a little and Rhys is stunned to see it almost looks…proud._

_"Y'know, have to hand it to her. Takes a special kind of person to be able to hijack an Atlas robot and run headfirst into Pandora without thinking it through. Kinda stupid, but whatever….heh, hi-Jacked…."_

_"She hijacked an Atlas robot?" Rhys asks in surprise._

_"Are you just going to repeat everything I say dum-dum?" Jack retorts in apparent amusement. "Yeah, she did. She was going to leave this shithole till she passed by Helios. Programming kicked in, she found me and uploaded me before she knew what she was doing. Woke up to find I was sharing some sleek robot body with some woman. Cute thing, cropped hair, wide eyes. Sooooo easy to convince to help me. I mean, the programming helped, but I think she wanted to trust me."_

_Jack met Rhys' eyes._

_"Because she had no one, Rhysie. Not a single person in that facility cared about her. She_ **_needed_ ** _me."_

_"And you needed to destroy every gun company on Pandora?" Rhys retorts sharply, and Jack grins._

_"Helped you though, didn't it? With every company that fell you got more power. Don't tell me you didn't love that. Watching your competition just disappear. I mean, you must have felt_ **_fantastic_ ** _when Maliwan just crumbled…"_

_"I was more concerned about being the next target to really revel, Jack," Rhys replies sharply._

_"Couldn’t level Atlas, kiddo."_

_"Why?" Rhys asks in disbelief._

_"Funny thing about the good programmers, Rhys. A few keystrokes and they can level a city if they want to. Hera had a kill code. Just after we eliminated Maliwan, Hera shut Addie down, uploaded me from the droid and downloaded me here for safe-keeping. Hera told me I would eventually take over the system if I worked with her and didn't try to level Atlas. Course I agreed, I'm not an idiot. You can't rule Pandora if you don't have the weapons to do it with."_

_"And why would she want you in control?" Rhys asks as he crosses his arms, and Jack laughs sharply as he looks behind Rhys._

_"You can ask her yourself."_

 

**He followed the path of destruction left by this person nicknamed "the Nemesis of Pandora", scourging in the remains of the latest company to fall in order to find what he needed.**

**Funnily enough, the people to come in before him never seemed to touch the databases, electing instead to pick clean whatever guns were on display, which blueprints had been carelessly left out.**

**It became routine, his long fingers darting over the keyboard as he hacked into their general systems, looked at security footage, tried to connect the pieces together from what little he had.**

**Because while Nemesis had left the guns and the like alone save for a few, they had picked apart what was on those databases. Chunks of information wiped from the hard drive, most of which he couldn't recover.**

**There were always exceptions, though. Bits and pieces he found amidst the sea of numbers and letters, information that couldn't be wiped.**

**Those he'd download into his rewired ECHO, making sure to leave no trace of his presence before he would slip out of the building.**

**He wished he could say he had a grand plan for how to capture this person, that he wasn't grasping at straws like everyone else hunting for them. That he had a slim possibility of succeeding where others had failed.**

**Luckily for him, sometimes grand enemies of powerful corporations make costly mistakes.**

**Or in the case of Nemesis…find themselves stranded in the Pandoran desert.**

 

_Hera glances at the screen and scowls, her features twisted into something ugly and sinister, and Rhys feels a jolt go up his back. As her expression reminds him of that fateful night when Helios fell, a perfect mirror of Jack's as the ring on the chain around her neck glints._

_"Unless of course, you want_ **_me_ ** _to tell him?" Jack asks her._

_Rhys watches her expectantly, trying to quell the increase in his pulse as she approaches him slowly, her heels clicking against the tiled floor._

_She touches the ring around her neck before she speaks, her words calm and measured._

_"What good would that do me?" She asks coolly and Jack laughs._

_"Oh, none. Just want to see the look on his face when you tell him the truth. Kinda hurts more coming from you," Jack replies in clear amusement and Rhys just wants to shut off the monitor._

_Hera glanced at the screen._

_"I'm not you, Jack," she retorts as she pulls out an Atlas pistol , aiming it at Rhys' chest. Rhys opens his mouth to ask what the hell she thinks she's doing when she presses on the trigger._

_A solitary shot rings out, the sharp crack reverberating down the hallway._

_There is a sharp thump, and Hera sighs to herself as she looks at her boss begin to bleed out._

_"I don't waste time monologuing," she continues as she steps forward, tilting the gun up a little, the barrel pointed at his head as his eyes meet hers blearily._

_There's a sharp anger there as she preps the next shot, and she can't help but smile sadly._

_"Say hi to Mom for me, will you?" She asks rhetorically, and Rhys frowns._

_"Mom?" He struggles out as the bullet clicks into place._

_There is another shot that rings out, a gun that clatters to the floor before someone screams._

_The Jack AI can't help but grin._

 

**The robot was sleek and silver, the logo for Atlas emblazoned on their side as they looked at him sharply.**

**"Where is Kratos?"  a feminine voice asked quickly, and when he did not respond the robot shakily rose to their feet.**

**He noticed that the light in their eyes was flickering, shifting between gold and black as they shakily surged forward, causing the man to step back automatically. They collapsed to their knees, a soft thump accompanying the movement as the sand shifted around their frame.**

**The man knelt down cautiously, the robot watching him just as cautiously as he reached into his bag.**

**They glanced down at one of his pistols, no doubt calculating the amount of energy it would take to swipe one, and he used the slim opportunity to clamp something down on their wrist as they reached out.**

**They withdrew with horror as they looked at the offending object.**

**"Energy stabilizer," the man declared. "It's going to redistribute the remaining power in your systems."**

**He pulled out his ECHOcomm.**

**"One wrong move, though, and I can easily change it to a destabilizer."**

**They glanced between the metal bracelet, the ECHO and the man before their eyes flickered. They nodded, allowing him to help them stand, a cold metal hand in a large warm palm as the pair regarded each other.**

**Another object was clamped to their neck and the voice cried out in surprise before their eyes flickered out, causing the robot to collapse against the man.**

**He worked quickly, finding the robot's port at the base of their neck, his fingertip tracing over it for a moment before he hooked up his ECHOcomm. He easily began the download process, his eyes darting around anxiously as he watched the bar creep forward.**

**"C'mon…c'mon…" He muttered to himself  as he easily navigated through the prompts on the screen. "Work with me kiddo…"**

**The Pandoran sun beat down on his back, sweat starting to form on his forehead and he yanked his hood down to reveal a shock of blond hair.**

**He ran a tanned hand through his hair to try to push the sweat back as the download nearly reached completion, grinning to himself when the download completed.**

**There was a pause as his screen flickered before a series of numbers and letters filled it, rapidly replaced by the image of a young woman with cropped hair that framed her pretty features and wide eyes. The golden AI glanced around in confusion as he pulled his hood up, clipping the ECHO to his belt as he rebooted the robot, their 'eyes' red and unblinking as he pressed down on a button on the side of the console.**

**The robot jerked to attention as he motioned for it to follow him, the robot's steps following his own as he began to trek across the Pandoran wasteland he had found Nemesis in.**

**"What the hell are you doing?" It asked sharply, and the man smiled to himself.**

**"Claiming the bounty for your capture," he replied easily, and if he could look down at his ECHO he would have seen the AI frown.**

**"Bounty for my capture?" It asked in a wavering sort of voice. "W-What do you mean by that?"**

**"Haven't you heard?" The man asked with a small laugh. "You're the most wanted person on Pandora."**


	6. The Choices We Make

_The blonde drops the gun with a sharp clatter as she rests her hand on her shoulder, her fingertips coming back stained red with blood that drips onto the tiled floor and Jack is laughing, the sound ringing in Rhys' ears as he tries to keep himself awake._

_There's voices, too many voices layering upon each other as Rhys feels his head spin incessantly, shuddering as he dimly hears a female voice practically growl before the sharp clatter of heels on tile._

_Somewhere Jack is congratulating whoever shot Hera, but the person does not respond, kneeling down before Rhys as their face swims into focus._

_The worry on Fiona's features quickly twists into anger before she smacks his shoulder and he gives out a sharp cry._

_"You're a damn idiot, you know that?" She snarls, and then her mouth is on his, fingertips tangling into his hair as she draws him closer, too grateful for the fact he's still alive to do much else._

_Rhys hears Jack give out a low whistle before he begins to clap a little, and Fiona breaks away to give Jack a glare so cold it sends a chill up Rhys' spine._

_"Where is she?" Fiona snarls and Jack shrugs. "You're in the damn system, I know you can track her!"_

_"I'm locked in one computer, babe. I can't do jack shit," Jack replies as if it is the most obvious thing in the world, and Fiona tries to rise to her feet before Rhys holds her back, long fingers wrapped around her wrist._

_"Don't," Rhys tells her gently, and she looks like she is about to protest when Rhys shakes his head. "Don't give him access…please…"_

_Fiona tugs her wrist from his grasp and walks forward, and Rhys swallows audibly as she approaches the console._

_She presses a button, and Jack can only give out a sharp cry of protest before the monitor flickers to black._

_"There, now we can have some silence," Fiona mutters as the monitor flicks itself back on._

_"What the hell was **that**?" Jack asks in annoyance, and Rhys would laugh if it didn't feel like he was on the brink of collapsing. "What, you think turning off the **screen** will shut me down?"_

_"Thought it might keep you quiet for awhile," Fiona replies a little less confidentially than before and Jack looks like he's tempted to roll his eyes._

_"Could we save this until **after** I'm taken to the medical centre to get this bullet out of my chest?" Rhys asks before he coughs wetly, and it seems to break the pair out of their argument, Fiona looping her arm across his back and helping him to his feet as he grits his teeth in pain._

_It's then that the blood loss seems to catch up with him and his head slumps forward, breathing shallowly before he slips into unconsciousness._

 

 

The final death knoll for Maliwan came within a few weeks of the collapse of Jakobs, and Rhys would have relished in the fact that he was now the only gun company left on Pandora if he wasn't so terrified his company would suffer a similar fate.

Hera seemed to be struggling with getting ADI functional, long nights spent in her office arguing with thin air as she muttered to herself angrily. As her deadline to get the AI done came and went, as she appeared to make no improvement, Rhys' stomach twisting in a knot with each passing day it wasn't completed.

The Children of Helios barely knew what they were doing, most of them more scared of the gun in their hands than the supposed threat to Atlas.

And to add insult to injury, Fiona had apparently taken on another Vault hunting job and would be gone for who knew how long…

It was at times like this he almost wished he hadn't crashed Helios. Hell, that he hadn't even gone for that damn Vault Key deal. At least in Hyperion he knew what the hell he was doing.

Being CEO of Atlas just felt like he was grasping at straws ninety percent of the time, most of those 'straws' slipping away before he could fully grip them.

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed to himself as he leaned back, taking the financial reports about the Vault of the Traveller in one hand as he glanced them over. If only for something to take his mind off all this Nemesis business.

Some had called it disgusting, Atlas capitalizing on people using the Vault to escape Pandora, but Rhys saw it as a way to deter people from using it. Because he was quite certain they wouldn't like what they found on the other side.

By the Eridians, Fiona and him had not.

Yet people still paid their fees, got their necessary injections for Eridium poisoning, bags in hand as they practically sprinted into the Vault.

He wondered sometimes if they ever regretted it. Not that he could ask, communication between universes practically non-existent, and between planets as shoddy as possible.

Maybe that could be his next business venture, interplanetary communications. The thought made him smile a little before he wrote it down.

Hell, maybe that could be what he took up for profit when Atlas fell…

If Atlas fell. He had to remain confident that Hera would get the AI completed and that the Children of Helios would keep Atlas protected.

He didn't think he could bear with the thought of everything he had done to get here to be for nothing. That regardless of anything he did Atlas would collapse anyways.

He pushed his chair away from the desk and slipped on his jacket.

Desperate times called for more than desperate measures.

 

**It was an odd sight, a thin young man guiding a sleek metallic robot across the Pandoran desert as the ECHOcomm on his hip flickered.**

**The AI wasn't saying much, their golden eyes scanning their surroundings as he walked and he was tempted to believe that he would be able to make the journey in blissful silence when they spoke.**

**"So what's the bounty then?"**

**He couldn't help but blink at that. He had expected pleas for him not to take them to Atlas, angry cries of protest…hell, he would be pretty livid if he was in her…their situation.**

**Not this calm, almost friendly inquiry that made him feel the slightest of tugs in his stomach.**

**"Does it matter?" He asked automatically.**

**"Well, if you're willing to trek across Pandora I assume it's a decent sum," they replied, and he couldn't help but laugh a little. "What?"**

**"Ten million dollars," he replied, expecting her to not respond.**

**There was a few moments of silence, his footfalls making soft thumps in the sand followed by a slight creaking of metallic limbs trying to coordinate themselves.**

**"Seems a little much, doesn't it?" they responded and he actually barked out a laugh.**

**"You levelled what sounds like almost every corporation on Pandora. They should be paying me more for taking you in."**

**"Then why don't you demand more?"**

**He couldn't help but blink again at that in sheer surprise.**

**"I've basically imprisoned you and I'm leading you to the chopping block…and yet you're telling me I should ask for more for your return…" He asked slowly.**

**"Well why not?" She asked, and it sounded almost innocent. Hell, he could picture her shrugging as she…they said it.**

**He couldn't afford to starting thinking of this thing as anything more than a thing. Not a person, just a set of coding that could talk.**

**Just like any other series of letters and numbers he had worked with.**

**"What's your angle?" He asked before he shook his head and laughed. "What am I saying, you're an AI, you can't have…"**

**"I need you to get me to Atlas and I feel like you should get proper compensation for your trouble," she replied, and it sounded almost genuine.**

**"Why do you care if I get 'proper compensation'?" He asked as the robot and him walked, the desert oddly, well, deserted. No Skags, no bandits on their tail. It was…kinda eerie, to be honest.**

**She didn't respond and he sighed to himself as he prepped one of his pistols. He glanced back at the robot to see it was still moving forward, the dust swirling around it as it shone in the Pandoran sun.**

**Crap, it was practically a beacon calling out to the bandits to take it. Wordlessly he slipped off his jacket, stopping the robot with a press of a button before he slid it's arms into the jacket, pulling up the hood so it concealed its features.**

**Well, lack of features, practically a blank slate except for the screen for the eyes. Most likely a defence drone.**

**He ran a hand through dyed blonde hair and sighed to himself before he started the robot again.**

**"What do you need the money for?" The AI asked as he began to walk again.**

**"It doesn't concern you," he replied automatically.**

**The AI seemed to laugh a little.**

**"What, you think I'm going to tell your secrets to Atlas? Like you said, they're probably going to dismantle me before I can even say a word," they replied. "They don't care about bandits like you."**

**"I'm not a bandit," he snarled, so sharply it surprised even himself.**

**"Then what are you?" It asked with interest.**

**Oh, what the hell. It wasn't like anyone in this universe would care about his identity. Well, some might…but not necessarily for reasons he wanted.**

**"I'm…a Hyperion programmer," he replied quietly.**

**"Hyperion is dead," the AI replied immediately, an automatic response and he smiled to himself.**

**"Not where I come from."**

 

Granted, when Rhys had decided he was going to go to Sanctuary to find a few of the Crimson Lance that might still have Atlas loyalties, he had expected **some** apprehension. 

What he had not anticipated was that their immediate response would be to aim their rifles at his skull.

"Guys, if you would just let me talk to Lillith…" He began nervously, chuckling for good measure as the guns remained trained at his head.

"You're Atlas," one of them stated, and Rhys resisted the strong urge to roll his eyes. "Your company made sure no one could leave Pandora unless they gave you enough money to line your already-fat pockets…"

"T-There's a certain cost to producing the serum…" Rhys began and the soldier retorted by prepping his gun, each click causing Rhys' stomach to sink lower and lower. "Can I please speak to Lillith?"

"Who says she wants to see you here?" One of the other soldiers retorted sharply and Rhys fumbled for an explanation.

"What's going on?"

Rhys never thought he would say this, but he was more than grateful to see the former Atlas assassin looking at him with cool blue eyes as she crossed her arms.

"Atlas scum here wants to speak to Lillith," one of the soldiers piped up, though the words seemed to die in his mouth as Athena gave him a cool glance.

"Did he give any reason as to why he needs to speak to her?" Athena asked and there was an awkward sort of pause before one brave soul shook their head. Rhys could practically feel her jaw clenching. "At ease soldiers. I can handle this one myself."

There was no argument as the group scattered, and Rhys saw one soldier shudder a little, commenting that Athena "gave him the heebie-jeebies" causing Rhys to smile a little.

"So, you just suicidal or are you **actually** this stupid to try to come here?"

Rhys jerked his head towards Athena and gave a nervous sort of chuckle as she crossed her arms.

"I…I was hoping I could speak to Lillith, ask her for a few soldiers that could work at Atlas for the time being."

"She's not here and I think I can state with some confidence that they won't want to work for you," Athena retorted. "And if you're looking for Fiona, she's gone too."

"You don't think they can be swayed?" Rhys asked hopefully and she shook her head. "So what you're saying is that I made this trip for nothing…"

"Good. You're learning," Athena retorted, and Rhys knew it was an insult of sorts but he still felt a small swell of pride at the tiniest of compliments it entailed.

"…you wouldn't happen to know where Fiona went, would you?" Rhys asked, not expecting a response.

"Last thing I heard she was hunting down some 'Nemesis of Pandora'," Athena replied, and Rhys' stomach lurched.

"She's doing **what now**?"

 

 

_When he awakens Rhys finds himself in a cozy little room. It's not like the rest of the rooms in Kratos, pristine cold little numbers with gleaming chrome that stunk of corporate sabotage waiting to happen._

_Or maybe that was just his impression in light of recent events._

_He realizes with surprise this is Fiona's room, the one he made up for her in case she ever decided to settle in Kratos._

_Back when he was hopeful she would actually accept and not just run off to Sanctuary to be with the other Vault Hunters._

_She appears to be gone somewhere else and Rhys tries to push away the thoughts creeping at the edge of his mind._

_In some naïve sort of way, he almost hopes that by not thinking about it that what Hera has done won't have an impact. That just the sheer thought of the thing is more powerful than anything she could ever do._

_His mind sticks on one phrase, despite his best efforts._

_"Say hi to Mom for me."_

_His mom had been dead for years now, her blood poisoned by the chemicals floating around on Eden-6. She had always had a weak constitution, a short but fierce sort of woman from a planet long ago abandoned rest of the universe, a ball of pure waste now. Hard to imagine the stories his mom told him of lush forests that gave way to intense deserts were true, but she had always been certain one day she could return._

_Had she had another child on this planet that she promptly abandoned? It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility, most people fleeing Earth who were too poor abandoning their kids to die on the planet in order to save their own hides._

_But his mom had always told him that when she left there was "nothing remaining to hold me back", and Rhys was tempted to believe her._

_She was a horrible liar, after all._

_He milled over the phrase again as he heard something crackle over the PA system before the familiar voice of Hera began to speak calmly._

_"It is with a heavy heart that I deliver this message. Early this morning a bandit broke into Kratos and tried to loot us. President Rhys tried to fight the bandit off himself and in the tussle was gravely injured. His survival was uncertain but I am happy to report that he is currently recovering. His recovery is going to be a long, arduous process and as a result, I will be taking over control of Atlas for the time being. Any issues you might have in light of recent events please direct to myself."_

_The PA system clicked off and Rhys felt a weight settle in his stomach._

_This couldn't be good._


	7. Truths Are Revealed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics are for events in the present, bold italics are for events that take place in the past of Hera. :-)

_Hera leans back in her office chair and finds herself tracing the chain around her neck, fingertips gliding over cool metal as she closes her eyes. Her thumb brushes over the small gem in the centre of the gold band, faintly glowing purple as she remembers how it felt being dropped into her palm._

 

**_"What? You couldn't afford to get one bigger?" she had teased, the only person in recent memory to be able to do so with the likes of him. But then again, that was their dynamic, long fights that gave way to even longer sessions in bed with noisy springs and screams that could practically be heard on Elpis._ **

 

_She knew what she had to do. How this all had to end, and yet she felt the tiniest shred of hesitation as she opened her eyes and slid open one of her desk drawers, pulling out a slim Atlas pistol. The sound of bullets clicking into the gun as she loaded it filled the room, practically bouncing off the walls._

 

**_"_ ** **_Remind me why I need to learn how to do this again?"_ **

**_Large, tanned hands encased her own as he helped her load the gun, his mouth hovering dangerously close to her ear as he did so._ **

**_"Because I'm not about to lose you to some bandit," he replied, and her mouth quirked into a smirk._ **

**_"Didn't know you cared," she teased as she looked back at him, her head resting against his chest as he rolled his eyes._ **

**_"I married you, didn't I?"_ **

 

_She slides the gun into her back pocket, making sure to click on the safety before she stands up and brushes herself down, squaring her shoulders before she left her office. She gave a curt nod to some of the Atlas workers milling about, making her way to the hospital wing rather easily. She was a little surprised no one was stopping her to ask about Rhys, but then again, perhaps they believed she knew as little as them._

 

**_She'd been on the run for as long as she could remember, practically a gun for hire as she sat in that dingy old bar and counted out the bills for her cut of the job._ **

**_Her aunt had insisted that she be treated like an equal to the adults from the age of twelve, the same age apparently that her mother began to take on the serious jobs for her foster father._ **

**_That included getting paid for her services…which as time passed gave her more than enough to leave Pandora for good._ **

**_She never felt like she had fit in on the planet anyways, taking more after her aunt than her mother in that regard, the desperate need to just leave pumping through her veins._ **

**_The difference was, she could actually do it. No need for expensive shuttles, just sheer concentration as her markings glowed. As the air around her shimmered and she disappeared for good, the note she left on the table fluttering as she concentrated on trying to get to Eden-6._ **

**_He'd explained to her later that is was because she was a child of two worlds that she could even do this. Travel between universes with a snap of her fingers, though at the time she thought it was restricted to different planets._ **

**_Which was why she was more than a tad surprised to find herself on a pristine space station, a boxy robot looking at her as she sat up and tried not to groan too loudly._ **

 

_She nods to the medics on duty as she slips into the room she knows Rhys is being kept in, her fingers already itching to clutch the gun in her pocket as she preps herself for the speech she is going to give him. She knows it's cliché, to want to give some grand speech before she puts a bullet in his skull, but she feels like she deserves it._

_He made her go through hell and back, after all._

 

**_She never intended to be a programmer, but then again, she supposed she should have some gifts from her dad besides the markings on her arms. The power that surged through her dangerously, always on the edge of spilling over._ **

**_Perhaps that was what drew her instinctively to him. Because somewhere in her mind she already knew he would understand what she was and not cower in fear because of it._ **

**_No one knew, of course. Of the daughter he kept locked away, of his grand plans for the universe._ **

**_Hell, no one had known he was even married until rumours spread through the station that she had died tragically, and by that point she was too deep to even care that she had been essentially the other woman for the past year._ **

**_That had come as a surprise too, how easily she allowed herself to be taken in by smooth words in a honeyed voice, as he promised her everything she ever desired. The chance to be more than people expected of her, to defy a destiny many had said was already written for her._ **

**_But hell, he wasn't too shabby in the looks department and he actually seemed to like her markings, tracing them with a possessiveness that had oddly thrilled her as he told her he had big plans for them both._ **

**_She started calling herself Hera at that point, the noble queen to the powerful king Zeus. The two of them to rule the universe by any means necessary, to wield more power than anyone expected._ **

**_She hated how much she adored it._ **

 

_Hera had anticipated a cold glare as she entered the room, but those mismatched eyes watched her so intently and so heartbroken that she found herself needing to look away._

_"How long have you wanted Atlas?" he asks her simply, and she feels a lump rise in her throat that she tries to swallow down._

_"Since the beginning," she admits._

_"Is that why you brought him back? Why you made ADI reboot him?"_

_Hera traces the ring on her neck again before she responds._

_"I brought him back because I was told to Rhys. I was told it was the easiest way to get everything I ever wanted. To finally have a place in this world."_

_"Who told you?" Rhys asks, more sharply and she finally meets his eyes._

_"Jack."_

 

**_Their marriage had been tumultuous from the get-go, Jack never really that keen on staying in one place or with one person for too long. There was a constant drive, to keep moving, and what had initially drawn her to him drove a wedge between them._ **

**_Well, that and that little skank on Pandora that he gave a town called Lynchwood, his eyes shining every time he spoke of her to his wife. Every eager word of excitement only drove the pain in her chest deeper and deeper, and yet she stayed._ **

**_Because she loved him. And she knew he still needed her, more so now as she watched him clip that horrific mask onto his face every morning. A constant reminder of the failure on Elpis that he was slowly but surely twisting in his favour, his first obstacle already disposed of via a watch chain and an airlock._ **

**_It was around that time she learned about Angel, found herself standing in that horrific chamber as she watched a little girl be pumped full of Eridium all so Daddy dearest could find himself a Vault. As she traced her own markings, so similar to the little girl's and insisted to one of the technicians that it needed to be shut down. That there had to be a better way._ **

**_Which of course Jack had handled splendidly, the technician strangled and every kind word Jack had ever spoken to her disappearing. As every syllable turned venomous, and she wished she could say it was that that made her run._ **

**_But it was the thought, the little voice in the back of her head telling her that Jack was probably going to kill his own daughter at the rate he was going, and then replace her with Hera. Use his wife to charge the Vault key, and that made the blonde pack up all she had and decide to run. No note this time, just a complete evaporation from Jack's life._ **

**_The intent was to just forget about him._ **

**_But as she came to learn, running away from Jack didn't mean he wouldn't be able to find you again when you eventually had to stop._ **

 

_"_ _He's dead," Rhys murmurs, and Hera laughs sharper than she intends._

_Because oh, how she sometimes wishes that was true._

_"Haven't you learned yet that he always find a way?" she retorts, the words strangely hollow in her throat as she pulls the gun from her back pocket._

_She sees his markings begin to pulsate faintly._

_"Don't make this harder than it needs to be, Rhys," she requests gently and Rhys' markings only glow brighter in response._

_"Why would he promise you anything?"_

_"The same reason you left. I was ambitious, he promised me everything I ever wanted. Had to get something from you after all," Hera answers sharply and Rhys looks perplexed._

_"F-From me?" Rhys asks gently, clearly confused._

_She clicks the bullet into place as she aims the gun at his forehead._

_"Congratulations, Rhys. You have yourself a baby girl."_

 

**_She had decided to run to another planet, Eden-6 to be precise, until she could figure out her next steps._ **

**_Jack had found her within the month, sitting calmly in her tiny apartment as he looked at her with a wide grin._ **

**_She had run by the next morning, her markings glowing sharply  as she begged the universe to take her as far away from him as possible._ **

**_Because there was no way in hell she was going back to that shithole if she could help it._ **

 

_S_ _he gives him a moment, watches the confusion transform into something else before he looks at her._

" _Turned out you left a few things behind when you ran back to your own universe," Hera declares. "Me being one of them."_

_Rhys seemed to look at her, truly look at her before he noticed the familiar pale green eyes, the features that so closely resembled his own, hell even her stature was all from her father._

_"H-How…" Rhys began._

_"Well, I could waste time with explanations," she retorts. "But that isn't going to change a thing, now is it?"_

 

**_It felt…strange, going back to Pandora in a sense._ **

**_She hated it, going back to a life with a gun on her hip and Pandoran dust that seeped into every fibre of her clothing._ **

**_But anything was better than the prospect of Jack using her to power the Vault Key._ **

**_She traced the ring she now wore around her neck, a constant reminder of what she had left behind. Why she had needed to leave._ **

**_And yet she contacted him anyways._ **

**_She wished she could give a good explanation for why she did it, but the truth of the matter was, a small part of her still loved him. Hell, she'd be surprised if she stopped. He had been everything she had wanted at the time, and she would always be a little grateful for that._ **

**_Of course he had twisted that against her, told her he could of easily locked her in the chamber but loved her too much to do so, Angel was more than happy to do it, every single word dripping with manipulation._ **

**_And she allowed herself to believe every word. Because it was easier than confronting the truth that possibly everything he had ever said to her was a lie, a fine-tuned phrase._ **

**_It was no wonder she took the deal then. He wanted to topple Atlas so that Hyperion could fully take over and she wanted to be back in an office with a good set of coding, a steady paycheque.  The power would be nice too._ **

**_Trading secrets for power. Typical Hyperion._ **

 

_Rhys puzzles it together soon enough. Those glorious few moments in a cave near the Vault of the Traveller. When that other Fiona and him had just given in._

_"It wasn't ambition that made me leave," Rhys answers honestly. "I wasn't given a choice. The Traveller forced me back here. I-If I had known…"_

_"If you'd known would you really have gone back?" Hera asks angrily. "You have Fiona here, you have Atlas, would you really want to give all that up just for some daughter of Pandoran scum?"_

_"I know what it's like to grow up without a dad. Trust me," Rhys admits. "I would have given anything for him to just swoop into my life and take me away. Give me what I thought I deserved from the universe. I would…I would have made sure you never had to know that feeling."_

_"And Fiona?" Hera asks, lowering the gun slightly._

_"She would have come too. I would…I would have made it all work, I swear."_

_Hera laughs a little brokenly at this._

_"You wouldn't have had to. She died as soon as she gave birth to me."_

_Rhys' mouth falls open at that, and he looks so vulnerable. Hera knows this is the perfect opportunity to take the shot, when his defences are completely down, and yet…she can't._

_She's worked with him for months now, she knows when he manipulates and lies._

_And he's not lying now. He truly believes he could have rescued her._

_And that breaks her heart more than it should at this point._

_"Rhys, you…you need to let me take over. He wants to take down Atlas in his own universe, and he won't stop until he does it. Please."_

_Rhys closes his eyes and shakes his head._

_"I can't. I worked too hard to get here. I'm not giving that up, even if you are my daughter. I-I'm sorry."_

_It's cold and ambitious…and it earns her respect. She squares her shoulders and meets his eyes._

_There is a sharp crack that slings through the air before her mouth falls open, her eyes going glassy before she collapses, the blood trickling from the back of her head._

_Rhys looks up to see a young woman standing there, her hair and eyes a familiar blue as she regards the body with a smirk._

_"Sorry kitten…" the familiar voice of Jack comes from Mattie's mouth as she steps over the body._

_Rhys tugs at the restraints of his cot, his heart pounding as the woman approaches._

_She seems to slump forward before she straightens, and she all but runs at the cot. She shakily undoes the restraints and motions for him to stand up._

_"We don't have a lot of time. Grab Fiona and run, please."_

_"Why should I listen to you?" Rhys asks skeptically._

_"Because in a few minutes, none of this is going to matter," she replies as she motions for him to put on his clothes._

_A shudder goes through the building and Rhys looks at her questioningly._

_"Oh shit," she hisses as she motions him to put on his clothes a little more urgently._

_"Why are you suddenly so eager to help me?" Rhys asks, not moving a muscle._

_"Could I maybe answer that when we're not all about to die?" She nearly screeches, and yet he doesn't move. "Oh, FUCK IT."_

_He feels a sharp jolt in his port before he collapses, blackness rapidly surrounding him._

 

_He jerks awake violently, feeling a pair of hands hold him down as he blinks at the bright Pandoran sun._

_Fiona. Where the hell is Fiona?_

_"You really did a number on him," a voice murmurs worriedly and he hears Mattie make a sharp noise of protest._

_"I panicked, okay?" She hisses. "Oh, I'm sorry, and you didn't?"_

_"I wasn't going to leave you in there!" the voice retorts protectively._

_"You still should have," Mattie retorts._

_"But. I. Didn't. So learn to live with it," the man replies almost angrily._

_"Fine."_

_"Fine."_

_Rhys groans a little at the pain coursing through his head._

_"Rhys? Rhys are you alright?" The voice continues as his vision swims into focus, his mismatched eyes meeting a pair of eyes, one sea green and the other a deep blue._

_"T-Timothy?"_

_The man sits back, runs a tanned hand through blond hair and looks at someone standing nearby._

_"He might have a concussion, we need to get him to a medical facility,"  he murmurs._

_"We don't have time to get him anywhere!" Mattie retorts sharply._

_"We'll take him to Sanctuary, he can get treated there," Fiona declares suddenly, and Rhys sits up to look at her._

_"Oh thank the Eridians," he breathes as he watches her._

_"Fine. Let's get moving then," Mattie declares, urging Tim to follow her._

_"No. Not him. He'll get us shot as soon as we try to enter the gates," Fiona insists as she looks at the man._

_"He helped make sure Rhys survived. You owe him," Mattie declares sharply._

_"Didn't know you cared," he declares drily and she rolls her eyes._

_Fiona looks physically pained before she nods, Tim helping Rhys to his feet before he smoothes down the dirt on the jacket Rhys is wearing. There is a strange tenderness to the action before the man stops himself and steps back._

_"Thanks," Rhys murmurs as they all begin to walk to the nearest Fast Travel station._

_There is an odd sort of hiss before Mattie's eyes widen and she urges them to get down._

_It's as they hit the ground that the sound of rubble collapsing echoes around them, and Rhys looks back just in time to see Kratos fall._

_His mouth falls open as he is yanked to his feet by Tim, the group starting to sprint now as Rhys can't help but look back every so often at the remains of the last gun company on Pandora._

_"Told you none of it was going to matter."_


	8. Jonathan Clarke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know the drill: italics are the present, bold is the other narrative happening in the past, no formatting is the past. :-)

_Rhys feels his head throb dully as he turns to look at the person sitting beside his bed, taking note of the blond hair and the mismatched eyes looking at an ECHOcomm intently._

_"It's an odd look on you Tim," Rhys comments hoarsely, causing the man to look up at him in mild surprise._

_"You're supposed to be passed out," the man replies slowly, and Rhys laughs a little._

_"Daimon thing, you know. The drugs get burnt off a lot faster when you had Eridium pumping through your veins," Rhys retorts. "So why the blond hair?"_

_"Thought it would help me not be recognized," the man replies quietly, long tanned fingers darting over the screen of the ECHO. "Do you want me to get you some more morphine?"_

_Rhys shakes his head tiredly and the man raises his hand automatically, reaching out to Rhys before he stops himself._

_"Sorry," he mumbles, dropping his hand to his side and going back to the ECHO. Rhys watches him with interest and the man looks back up at him. "What?"_

_"What happened to the other one?" Rhys asks, and the man only frowns at him. "I mean the other me?"_

_"Other you?" the man asks uncertainly._

_"You two were going to go back, find the ID drive and kill Jack," Rhys replies, and the man's eyes widen almost comically._

_"Are you sure the drugs have worn off?" he asks in concern, looking at the drip bag to make sure there was still some fluid in it. He flicks it a few times with his forefinger and thumb before he changes the drip speed._

_"Don't try to knock me out to avoid the question Tim," Rhys replies with a small laugh._

_The man meets his eyes with growing concern._

_"Who's Tim?"_

 

**"Who's Alan?"**

**The question stopped him as he ate his remaining scraps of food caught a fortnight ago. He was sitting beside the makeshift campfire as he ate, and he internally debated if he should respond honestly to her question.**

**Everyone knew on Hyperion that there were some secrets you just kept to yourself, but then again, she wasn't Hyperion.**

**_It_ ** **wasn't Hyperion. Like** **_it_ ** **said,** **_it_ ** **would probably be scrapped for data at the end of all this anyways, so what did it matter if** **_it_ ** **knew?**

**"How did you get access to that data?" he asked sharply, looking at the ECHO and could practically** **_feel_ ** **it shrugging in response as he looked at the wavering line.**

**"You didn't exactly keep it locked away," it responded, the line bouncing up and down with each inflection and he sighed. "He's cute."**

**"How do you even know what** **_cute_ ** **is, anyways? Aren't you supposed to be a defense program?" he replied.**

**"He reminds me of you," it continued, and he found himself wondering what her expression was. He'd had to shut off the visual to save battery, and yet he itched to turn it back on, if to see another face. Even if it was digital.**

**"Should I take that as a compliment?" He asked drily.**

**"He's your son?" It asked, ignoring him completely.**

**He thought of the little kid he left behind in a hospital ward, his one brown eye looking at him pleadingly as the man promised the little boy he would come back "before you know it, kiddo."**

**"Adopted," he admitted. "I…I was with his mother when she was pregnant. Eventually adopted him when she got too sick to care for him after he was born."**

**He smiled sadly to himself.**

**"Which she took as her cue to allow herself to die," he continued bluntly, stabbing at his food for good measure. "I've had him ever since."**

**_Little girl too_ ** **, he wanted to add.** **_Sweet little girl with the brightest of blue eyes_ ** **. But the AI didn't need to know that part.**

**"Is that why you want the bounty?" It asked, and he all but banged his fork onto his metal plate.**

**"Why do you care?" He asked sharply.**

**"Because I'm curious," it replied.**

**"You're nosy. There's a difference," he retorted.**

**"How long has he been sick?" It asked, and he nearly ripped the ECHOcomm from his belt as he glared down at the screen.**

**"A few keystrokes and I can shut you down. Just say another word and I'll be more than happy to do it," he declared warningly.**

**"You need me to tell you where to go to get to Kratos," it replied simply. "You can't afford to shut me down."**

**"You wanna bet kiddo?" He retorted with a small smirk.**

**There was a bright flash on the screen followed by a sharp pop, and the map that was in the corner of the screen dissipated.**

**"Now you do," it replied, and…did it sound** **_self-satisfied_ ** **?**

**"What the hell did you do?" he hissed as he banged on the side of the device in his frustration.**

**"Gave myself a bargaining chip," it replied brightly. "So, you want to head east…."**

**"I'm not going anywhere until you put my map back," the man spat.**

**"What, you don't trust me?" It asked, and he gritted his teeth.**

**"I think you're more likely to lead me to a Rakk Hive than back to Atlas," he replied honestly.**

**"I promise you, on the coding of Handsome Jack, that I won't lead you astray."**

**The man frowned a little.**

**"The coding of Handsome Jack? What does that mean?"**

**The AI was silent for once.**

**"Handsome Jack is…was a person, not a set of letters and numbers kiddo," he replied.**

**"Then clearly you haven't met him recently," it retorted. "He's an AI."**

**"Is** **_that_ ** **the Jack you kept asking me to help you find?" He asked in interest, the cogs in his brain starting to turn. "What interest would he have in an AI that can level Pand- ohhhh."**

**He chuckled drily.**

**"He wants to use your programming to fulfill his dream of cleansing the planet for good."**

**"He doesn't want to use me!" The AI replied sharply. "We're a team, I need to find him because he's my…"**

**"What? Friend? Babe, in case you haven't noticed, Jack is only out to save his own ass. He doesn't have friends."**

**"You're wrong. We have each other. We…we help each other!" It actually began to protest.**

**"Or do you just help him?" He retorted evenly.**

**"I'll have you know, sir…" It began.**

**"Nate," he replied.**

**"** **_Nate_ ** **, he helps me when we need to fight and I help to update his programming! We look out for each other!" It continued angrily.**

**"Sounds like he gets the better end of the deal."**

**There was a brief pause before it spoke, almost bitterly.**

**"Well it's not like I had much of a choice, now did I?"**

 

Fiona had just wanted the madness to end.

Hell, she wasn't even going to try to claim the bounty if she was able to catch this Nemesis of Pandora. She would actually be happy enough if it meant Rhys could get through the night.

And if it meant the other Vault Hunters might look at her with something resembling respect.

She could leave, she knew that. Rhys was more than happy to pay for her to get a shuttle to another planet, something he had told her multiple times when they both returned from their own set of chaotic circumstances.

Despite how they had reacted upon seeing each other, he was so _convinced_ that she was going to withdraw, try to run away that he made an offer that would definitely have tempted her before.

The chance to leave the dust bowl that was Pandora, to start anew.

But that had been before Sasha had found her own way to get off-planet with a companion Fiona still wasn't sure she approved of, and Fiona became ensnared by a man with a sweet smile and a metallic arm.

Not that Fiona would admit she only stayed for him. To make sure he didn't become that man she met, fifteen years older and so lost despite everything, or the man that Rhys told her about, so set on getting back what he thought he deserved that he was willing to leave everything behind to do it.

There were glimpses of cruelty in him, she knew that, just as their were glimpses in her. The soft didn't survive Pandora. But he wasn't turning into Handsome Jack, which relieved her more than she would ever confess to.

She had found some vital information on the whereabouts of some robot that matched the image she saw in the surveillance videos (not that Rhys knew she had viewed them…or even knew what to look for) a fortnight ago, and was currently tracking it down.

It was funny, in a way. Everyone was so convinced it was human, that it had to be a human mind behind all the madness that the appearance of a robot on every tape was blatantly ignored.

She wondered if it was really her that was supposed to figure it out. After all, that one threat had been directed at Rhys, not her.

But she thought he deserved, after everything, to have at least one struggle fought on his behalf.

Besides, if it was another damn AI, she wasn't at risk of being infected.

It was the thought of infection that made her inject herself with the medication for her Eridium poisoning, shuddering a little as it travelled through her body, and she checked her supplies.

 _Two more_. She was only good for the rest of the month and then partway into the next.

She placed the empty canister into her bag and kept walking, looking over her ECHO as it pinged weakly.

She just needed to get to Sniper's Canyon and then she could rest for a bit, her legs growing more and more heavy with each step she took and she yawned despite herself.

_She_ **_really_ ** _should have just hijacked that damn car back in Sanctuary._

But then again, it would have just broken down by now.

She checked the ECHO again for good measure, groaning to herself as it seemed like the dot was getting further and further away.

Oh screw it. She could just set up camp here for a few hours. There was a small canyon she could rest in, from the looks of it abandoned.

She all but thumped her equipment into the sand, laying it out before she slipped off her jacket, tucking herself into a nearby crevice before she allowed herself to drift off.

She prayed that this Nemesis wouldn't get too far in the next few hours.

 

**Nate frowned a little.**

**"Of course you had a choice."**

**The AI seemed to laugh bitterly.**

**"You try being crammed into a robot body with a Handsome Jack AI and tell me you'd be able to resist that persistent little voice after a while," it replied.**

**"You could have ignored him," Nate retorted.**

**"Programming didn't allow it. Once he was in I had to listen to him," the AI declared. "Part of Hera's master plan, I imagine. Give me something to allow him in while resisting everything else. Sort of genius in a way…well, for a human at least."**

**It was that last phrase that sent a chill up his spine, a nice little reminder that this was not a person he was speaking to.**

**"The worst part was, after a while, I actually liked it. The attention, the fact he seemed to value me. So different from everyone else I had met trapped in that database in Kratos, so confident and ready to lead me to glory if that was what I wanted."**

**It laughed bitterly.**

**"I didn't want that though. I just…I wanted a friend, I suppose. And he is one, funnily enough. Not that he ever really says so, but…"**

**"He left you to die in the Pandoran desert," Nate replied.**

**"He was uploaded back to Kratos. He didn't leave me to die. Hera did. Which is why I need to get him back."**

**"Why?" Nate asked in surprise. "What good will that do you?"**

**"You really don't know what he's capable of, do you?"**

**Nate laughed bitterly at this.**

**"Oh trust me. I know what the man is capable of. Better than anyone else."**

**"How can you claim that?"**

**"Because…" He began before he stopped, standing up rapidly as he slipped the ECHO back into the holster at his hip, rebooting up the robot before he programmed it to run ahead to a nearby abandoned Catch-A-Ride. The robot sprinted ahead and he followed, glancing behind him as the telltale sound of psychos flooding forward in a massive hoard of chaos and sound filled his ears.**

**He drew out one of the pistols, prepping it before he began to fire off into the hoard, watched as multiple bodies began to drop around him. He dodged a buzz axe thrown at his skull, causing it to land in the dirt behind him before he began re-firing.**

**There was one person that stood above the rest and he barely hesitated, shooting st their side before they collapsed, killing off the rest in rapid succession.**

**It wasn't until a stillness filled the air that he heard someone give out a sharp cry of pain that was entirely human, swearing up a storm that he realized he'd shot someone.**

**He knew it was better to just run, let them bleed out and yet he sprinted forward, taking note of the pretty features and green eyes looking up at him in confusion.**

**He could barely open his mouth before he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. He placed his hand on the wound, drawing back to see his fingers coated in blood before the woman slipped into unconsciousness.**

**"Fiona?" The AI murmured in surprise.**

**"You know this woman?" Nate asked in surprise.**

**"Of course I do. She's dating the CEO of Atlas."**

**Nate looked down at the woman before a small smile spread across his features.**

**"So she's useful to us. Perfect."**

 

"She's fine Rhys, you don't need to worry," Hera soothed him as Rhys poured over maps of where Fiona could possibly be heading. "She's a Vault Hunter, remember? She's survived worse."

"She shouldn't be out there," Rhys retorted sharply. He'd wanted to do something weeks ago, but Atlas had proved to be more pressing in terms of his energy and Hera had insisted that he keep his priorities on the company in light of everything that was happening. "If Nemesis can level a building, who's to say what they can do to a person?"

"I wouldn't be concerned about…" Hera began when the ECHO in Rhys' office began to ping. They both looked at it before Rhys walked over, answering it hesitantly.

"Hello?"

"I have Nemesis, Rhys," Fiona declared breathily and Rhys' heart began to beat rapidly. "I'll…I'll be back in Kratos shortly. Oh, and Rhys. Prepare a cell. I think there's someone here you might want to have _a nice chat_ with."

 

**Nate had it all planned out, how he would use her as a bargaining chip to get more money. But as it turned out, she had plans of her own.**

**Ones that included him being subdued, the AI stripped away and the robot no where to be found.**

**The vehicles from Atlas showed up within moments of Fiona calling whoever was in charge, and before Nate could blink he was loaded into one of them roughly. One soldier made a snide comment about his hair and he was tempted to launch forward at them.**

**It had all been rather standard after that point, him locked into a cell while the AI was taken away somewhere, and he laughed to himself bitterly as he slid down to the floor.**

**He prayed that his kids would be alright if anything happened to him.**

 

_Rhys blinks at the man before him, taking in the fading blond hair and mismatched eyes as he fights off the numbness of the medicine._

_"You're Tim," he answers simply. "Timothy Lawrence, doppelgänger for one Handsome Jack."_

_The man shakes his head._

_"My name's Nate, kid. Has been for years. Short for Jonathan Clarke."_

_Rhys blinks in confusion as he fights off the lethargy, tossing around the name in his head for a few moments._

_Jonathan Clarke. Jon-a-than Clarke. Jon. John. Jack._

_He sits bolt upright, causing the man beside the bed to place his hands on the other man's shoulders to try to subdue him, causing Rhys to jerk away violently._

_"Y-You're Handsome Jack," Rhys murmurs and the man nods once._

_"You're supposed to be dead," Rhys continues fearfully before Nate can speak, and the man runs a hand through his hair and sighs._

_"I know," he replies tiredly. "Died via hole in the sternum. Been told so multiple times, kiddo."_

_"Did…did you find yourself a way to re-upload yourself into the New-U stations? Make a new body?" Rhys asks desperately, and the man shakes his head. "Then how the hell are you still alive?"_

_"Because in my universe kid, I haven't given anyone a good reason to kill me. Well, outside of ambitious Hyperions anyways," he replies with a small grin._

_"How is this even possible?" Rhys asks himself more than the man, and Nate shrugs._

_"I'm just some lowly Hyperion programmer. People tend to overlook you in that sort of position. I mean, you still have the few that want your job and are willing to kill for it, but that's Hyperion for you."_

_"No, I mean how are you here?" Rhys asks nervously, and Nate responds by rolling up his arm._

_Rhys' eyes nearly bulge out as he takes in the white markings, clunky and spanning from the man's fingertips to his chest, faintly glowing now._

_"Your guess is as good as mine," he retorts. "And before you ask why I came, I needed the bounty. Your little message didn't just reach other planets...it got to other universes."_

_"So you came here to claim it and then would use it to take over Hyperion?" Rhys asks automatically and Nate snorts._

_"Got myself better ambitions than a stack of cash and a title, kiddo," he responds with such confidence that Rhys can't help but get flashbacks to the terror that roamed around Hyperion more than eager to toss you out of an airlock if you so much looked at him the wrong way. "Hospital bills."_

_He leans in close to Rhys and grins._

_"Let me give you some advice. When some woman comes up to you and asks you to take care of her kid, just say no," he continues with a small wink._

_Rhys is stunned at the tenderness in the words, like this version of Jack doesn't regret it. It's..it's odd, to say the least._

_"Hospital bills for who?" Rhys asks uncertainly, and Nate smiles at him fondly._

_"Alan, my son," he retorts before he laughs a little. "Though he prefers that people call him Rhys. Apparently he doesn't like being named after the genius who made one of the first computers. That's kids for ya though..."_

_"R-Rhys?" He asks shakily, and Nate nods as the gears stop entirely in Rhys' head. As he watches the man before him grin from ear to ear, though it doesn't quite reach his eyes. There's a sadness there as he reaches forward and runs his hand through Rhys' hair, pushing back the locks stuck to his forehead. Rhys is stunned with himself that he even **lets** him do it, too caught up in his shock to really react to what is happening._

_"Heya kiddo,"  Nate declares softly._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time in During the Mayhem:
> 
> "I know you're expecting some grand reason for why I did what I did....and in truth, it was sort of grand. The same reason Fiona went chasing after me, and you were going to go search for her. Because someone mattered to me more than anything else. And I wanted to do anything for him. Surely you can understand that?"


	9. Flaw in my Code

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which we get what remains of the story of ADI.exe, why she helped Jack and all that jazz. 
> 
> Italics are the present, non-formatting is the past.

_She winces as her fingers meet the cool metal across her wrists, tugging at her restraints causing the bed to rattle. She stares coldly as the woman standing across from her, her hat placed on the table as she traces her bandaged side. She appears to be gathering medical supplies, for Rhys no doubt, laying them out one by one with soft clinks._

_Mattie can practically_ **_hear_ ** _Jack telling her that she needs to break free, that she needs to get out of Sanctuary as quickly as possible, and she smiles a little to herself._

_"What’s with the dumb smile, kiddo? Aren'tcha listening to me?" the voice barks, and if a chill could go down her spine it would at the realization._

_"Jack?" she murmurs, and she hates how she sounds hopeful at the prospect. A spark of blue develops in the corner of her vision, and her eyes dart over, the familiar blue figure watching her as he sits on one of the beds. "How…."_

_"I can explain later pumpkin," he declares with a wave of his hand. "Now, the first thing you need to do is…."_

_There is a creak of footsteps from upstairs before someone descends into the common area, and the Jack AI watches the figure with keen interest as they run a hand through dyed blond hair._

_"Oh ho ho, who's this handsome devil?" Jack asks as he approaches, circling his duplicate as Nate turns to face Mattie._

_"He wants to speak to her," Nate directs to Fiona, who looks at him for only a moment before she shakes her head. "Sorry, let me rephrase that…he needs to speak to her."_

_Fiona looks at him sharply._

_"Since when do you have his best interests at heart?" Fiona all but spits at him, and AI Jack looks impressed._

_"Since I'm his_ **_father_ ** _," Nate emphasizes, and Fiona shakes her head before she motions for Nate to untie Mattie. Mattie guesses that this must be old news to Fiona, because her cool demeanor in no way mirrors the look of pure shock on AI Jack's features._

_"He's his w_ **_hat now_ ** _?" Jack asks as Nate approaches her, kneeling down beside the bed as he unfastens the clasps on her wrists. "I'm sorry, am I the_ **_only one_ ** _who seems_ **_interested_ ** _in this tidbit of information?"_

_"You're not the only one," Mattie thinks as Nate undoes her shackles, and Jack smiles at her a little._

_She hates how it makes something pleasant flood through her, and she realizes she feels proud of herself for causing that kind of reaction._

_"Nice to know_ **_someone_ ** _is having a normal reaction," he declares and she bites back a small laugh at the look of frustration on his features._

_Nate holds her arm as he leads her up a set of stairs, Jack close on their heels and she wonders what Nate thinks of all this. He was thrown into it, after all._

_His mouth is set in a thin line as he directs her to a small room, a makeshift cot in the centre. The young man turns his head to look at her before he tries to sit up, causing Nate to release her arm as he rushes over to Rhys. Wordlessly he helps Rhys sit up, murmuring something to him that causes Rhys to retort something sharply. Nate looks startled before he nods, standing up and slipping past her._

_She hears his footfalls echo as he walks down the stairs as Rhys speaks._

_"You might as well take a seat on the chair," Rhys declares as he nods to a nearby chair and Jack rolls his eyes._

_"Thanks princess, I was about to sit on the non-existent desk," he declares and Mattie bites the inside of her cheek to stop herself from laughing. She lowers herself into the chair and meets Rhys' eyes._

_"Nate said you needed to speak to me," she declares and Rhys nods. "I'm not really sure what else there is to tell. Fiona already gave me an interrogation while you were passed out, I figured she was going to tell you."_

_It's a blatant lie, but she's willing to take the risk if it means she has to say less to him._

_Jack looks proud at her deception, nodding with a small smile._

_"I'm sure you can afford to give me the condensed version," Rhys retorts evenly and she sighs a little. She looks at Jack for a moment, who looks back at her questioningly._

_"I'm not telling him a single thing you don't want me to," she thinks and Jack looks genuinely surprised before he grins._

_"Knew I liked you for a reason…." he declares and she fights back a smile of her own._

_She looks at the man sitting up in the bed, a needle sticking out of his arm, markings pulsating faintly._

_"Ehh, you might as well," he continues, surprising her before he flickers a little. "Doesn't matter anyways. He's lost the upper hand."_

_"And there's no harm in humouring him, kiddo," Jack suddenly purrs in her ear, standing beside her now. She can't help but look at him for a few moments, taking in the confident smirk as he looks at the man, like a cat waiting to snatch a bird out of thin air._

_Just waiting for his perfect moment to pounce._

_"What is it you want to know?" She asks, feeling Jack's hand on her shoulder, gripping slightly. "You already know I didn't have a choice in terms of rescuing Jack. That Hera programmed me to accept him. I-I'm not so sure what else there is to know."_

_"Why did Jack want Atlas so badly?" Rhys demands._

_Mattie looks at Jack, the grip on her shoulder tightening as she finds words coming out of her mouth._

_"He wanted to make sure you knew how it felt, to have everything you ever wanted, to have everything at your fingertips only to have it snatched away by someone else," she declares, her mouth moving in time with Jack's._

_She looks back at Rhys to see the colour drained out of his face, though his markings glow a little brighter._

_"So this was all just petty revenge?" He asks testily, and Jack laughs as his grip loosens on her shoulder. It's almost like for a moment her vision clears and she looks at Rhys._

_"Justice, not revenge kiddo," Jack declares as he saunters up to Rhys._

_"Wasn't it warranted, though? After everything you did to him?" she asks, though for some reason she's doubting her words and Rhys grits his teeth a little._

_"You can't honestly believe he was in the right. He tried to level Pandora when he was alive and was only using me to get back to Helios and re-assume power when he was an AI," Rhys spits and Jack laughs._

_"Retract the claws kitten, don't want you to scratch yourself," Jack declares as he sits at the foot of the bed._

_"You could have just ended it. You didn't need to keep him alive," she retorts suddenly, something odd flooding through her and Jack looks at her in a kind of surprise she feels like mirroring. "That would have been the merciful thing to do, to end it there, for all of us."_

_"Whoa whoa whoa pumpkin, what do you mean by_ **_that_ ** _?" Jack asks her, and there's a warning in his tone. "You saying you didn't like fighting by my side?"_

_He stands up from the bed and saunters towards her, and her vision flickers a little._

_"Because from my perspective, you didn't seem to have any_ **_complaints_ ** _…"_

_"Maybe I should have," Rhys mutters._

_"So why didn't you?" she asks, and he refuses to meet her eyes._

_"Because a small part of me still cared," he admits, almost too quietly for her to hear. "I worshipped him for years. That doesn't change in just a fortnight."_

_"Then I think you can understand why I did what I did," she replies with a sad sort of smile._

_Rhys chuckles brokenly._

_"At least you had a good excuse why. I was just an idiot," he murmurs._

_She refuses to look at Jack, her eyes closed as she tries to summon up enough courage to say her next words. Because she knows that once she says it, she's going to give Rhys a bargaining chip._

_And that's more dangerous than she wants to admit because of the man watching her with a warning look in his eyes._

_"See Rhys, that's where you're wrong," she declares. "The…the programming was supposed to just make me accept him into my basic coding. It…it wasn't supposed to…"_

_She falters and she hates herself for it. She feels two pairs of eyes on her and she prays that Rhys will just say it for her, make this so much simpler. Hell, she wants him to say it with such derision that she will feel a sense of shame for it. Because she's programming, she's numbers and letters, she can't have this kind of glitch._

_She can't afford to have this kind of corruption on her data, and she's stunned at herself for the sudden need to rid herself of it._

_"He…he wasn't supposed to matter to me."_

_She feels something be overridden in her systems and her eyes are forced open, pale gold eyes meeting cool blue ones as Jack stands in front of her. He actually looks stunned, eyes wide for a few moments as he rests a hand on her neck._

_"Don't look so surprised, kiddo," she thinks and he only blinks as she feels the slightest of pressures on her neck. "Surely you knew already."_

_"We were just supposed to be useful to each other. Partners. The…the deal was that I would help him destroy the other gun companies for Pandora, that he would find a way to make it up to me once he took over Atlas," she continues. "But by the end, it didn't matter. Because I didn't want anything. I just didn't want him to leave me alone again."_

_Jack is oddly silent as Rhys speaks, a harsh tone to his words._

_"He didn't care about you, you know that right? He was never going to care," he spits and she briefly wonders if he's right when Jack's thumb slides to her jaw, his mouth forming the words she's saying._

_"Then why did he save me from you?"_

 

She heard snippets of information, people chattering beside the ECHOcomm as it rested on the desk of some room with a large monitor. Something about "her wanting to see it for herself" and how "he would be happy to know Atlas is safe".

She knows what is going to happen next. Hera will tear apart the data for any remnants of Jack before Hera destroys her. She needs to rid herself of any evidence against her after all, and ADI knows she's the final piece that needs to be deleted.

The voices retreated after a few moments and ADI wondered why she suddenly had the impulse to bang against the glass of the ECHOcomm. To scream and beg for someone, anyone to set her free, and she realized with a jolt that this was how Jack must have felt being encased in that ECHOeye. The space around her seems to constricted, slowly tightening around her.

She wondered if this was how it was supposed to feel when Jack and her shared that robot body, before she remembered that her coding was made to perfectly mesh with his. No discomfort necessary.

Didn't mean she liked it at first, though. She was so used to being on her own, all the space to herself that when someone else was shoved in there she couldn't help but resist at first.

Not to mention he was so damn **persistent** and **aggressive** that it was a jolt to her systems when he came barreling in, already making demands of what needed to be done.

And all she could do was smile and nod, because that was what her programming commanded. To agree to his every whim, and she was horrified with herself.

But then…he started making sense. And he actually seemed to care about her well-being, even if it was only because it was so intricately entwined with his own existence. He paid attention when she was so used to being overlooked at Atlas, encouraged her to learn more and more while at Atlas she had been restricted from knowing too much.

Hera had given her adaptive intelligence with the intention of restricting her. Jack had allowed it to run free, at some point actually inputting some of his own knowledge in terms of how to think, how to fight to survive on Pandora.

By the end the pair were able to work in tandem, taking down companies with expert efficiency, grinning at each other as they did it.

He'd even declared that she needed a new name, something to reflect her new status. He began to call her Mattie after that, Matilda meaning strength in battle, and she adored it. Because this _was_ a battle of sorts, and her and Jack were easily winning it.

It was no wonder she had fallen prey to that human emotion, especially when he gave her proud grins and words of encouragement. The whole mess was sealed when he told her what happened on Helios, how he was finally given back everything he ever wanted only to have it all taken away. How Rhys had betrayed him, how just like her he had someone that had tried to control him. And she understood perfectly.

It was simple, so damn simple and she _allowed_ it to happen.

She knew part of it had to be manipulation, each day more and more alarms going off in her head as her intelligence updated. That he only said the things he did to get her to eventually agree with him. That the coding was playing a role as well and he was _certainly_ taking advantage of it at every opportunity.

But then again, no one else looked at her like he did, like she mattered. She wasn't just a set of letters and numbers, she was _someone_ to him. And that ended up mattering more to her.

Hell, part of her was convinced once he got what he wanted from Hera he would make sure she was by his side, the pair of them ruling Atlas. He told her that with her intelligence she would no doubt be suited to run a company, and though it wasn't exactly what she wanted, _at least it would be by his side_.

Except Hera had other plans for him, ones that didn't involve her. To just leave her in the Pandoran dust and pray her energy would run out at some point. That her body would be torn apart by bandits looking for some quick cash.

She wondered where her body was now. No doubt someone had found it waiting at the Catch-a-Ride and stolen it.

And then Nate had found her, dragged her through part of Pandora and in the back of her mind, as she saw him resist every question she had about his intentions, she began to wonder if Jack's were really as pure as she had thought. Because here was his perfect mirror image, and all he wanted was money to help his sick son.

And all Jack wanted was another throne.

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't see the monitor above her flicker on for a moment, a blue face looking down at her before it grinned and shut itself off. A long thin tube extended from one of the ports beside the screen and locked into the port on the side of the ECHO, a faint hum developing as data was uploaded from it.

She felt a sharp tug at her middle before her vision blinked away, and for a few moments she was surrounded by blackness before everything came into sharp clarity.

"Nice to have you back kiddo," a familiar voice declared, and she looked over to see a familiar tall figure of blue looking at her with a small grin. She resisted the urge to slam into him and wrap her arms around him in relief, everything flooding back at once.

"Where are we?" she asked instead, keeping her arms at her sides.

"Main Atlas database. Hera forgot to put in some restrictions on me so we have a bit of time," Jack declared as he motioned for her to follow him.

"Time for what?" she asked as they walked in the surrounding blackness, and that seemed to trigger something in Jack before he snapped his fingers and a corridor just _appeared_. She looked at him in shock and he just grinned before he tilted his head to motion her to keep moving.

"Well, I was thinking about our little arrangement kiddo, and I realized that I **still** haven't rewarded you for your loyalty," he declared.

"You…you don't need to give me anything, Jack," she retorted and he just shook his head before he opened a door for her at the end of the corridor to reveal a room of swirling codes. Jack reached into it expertly and pulled some out before he handed them to her, small 'phrases' that seemed to swirl in her palm before he shut the door with his foot.

"What are these?"

"Coordinates for a New-U station, kiddo," he declared as he went through the rest of the doors, grabbing codes here and there and passing them to her. "One that Atlas took over that may or may not have some spare data lying around it from Hyperion…"

"You're going to try to regenerate yourself," Addie declared and Jack shook his head before he seemed to pause for a moment and then nodded a little.

"Well, we're going to create a body for yourself first, but eventually yeah," Jack declared as he motioned for her to step into an empty room. "Pass me the codes."

She passed them to him wordlessly as she fully processed what he was saying.

"You…you're giving me a body?" she asked in surprise.

"Well, yeah. As fun as it would be to run Atlas through the database, there's always the chance someone can shut you down. Learned that the hard way. But, if you had something you could pass your data between, then you always have a back-up copy."

"Like a body," she breathed.

"Like a body," he replied with a grin. "And of course, I'll need someone to help me out once I get one back. Y'know, with things like making sure that we put some of my backup data in other servers and other helpful reminders."

"Why…why are you doing this for me?" she asked as he began to input the codes, and he paused as he met her eyes.

"I like to reward those that remain loyal to me," he retorted. "Besides, you're useful. Not getting rid of something useful to me."

 She'd learned how to interpret his words, too many months spent together sharing data and a body, and the actual meaning made her falter.

_I like you, that's why. Don't need a better reason than that, babe._

"Thank you," she breathed, and he just shrugged before he inputted all the data.

"I'll see you on the other side," he declared with a small wink before he closed his palm, and her vision went white.

There was a series of blue flashes before she tumbled forward, her knees hitting the Pandoran dirt as she breathed heavily.

She ran a hand through her hair, feeling the cropped cut before her fingertips rested on the cool metal port at the base of her neck.

Her vision was wobbly for a few moments before it cleared, and she looked down at her hands.

Pale skin greeted her and she found herself grinning as she stood up.

She looked at the machine spark before a pair of sneakers began to emerge, a pair of slacks developing next before the image seemed to flicker and then putter out. She ran forward automatically, his name on her lips before she heard loud swearing in her ear.

"Son of a taint!" Jack hissed. "Hera must be here, she's making sure I can't leave."

"I'll be on my way, I'll find a way to get you out and then you can tell me how to load the data myself," she replied quickly.

"Yeah, yeah that could work, hold on. Oh, c'mon, really?" he retorted in frustration. "You're on the other side of fricking Pandora without an ECHO…"

"You can talk me back," she replied and he sighed.

"I don't think Hera…." he began before he puttered out. She scanned the area, her eyes picking up information about every flora and fauna as she did so, little windows that appeared and then disappeared as her eyes moved around. From the looks of it she was in an old Hyperion mining facility, some glowing purple sludge still on the dirt in places.

She tried to remember what Jack had taught her, about the closest place she could find herself a vehicle that she could try to program it to take her back to Kratos.

"Don't worry Jack…I'm not leaving you with her," she muttered.

 

_"He didn't try to save you, he was just using you as a guinea pig to make sure the machine worked before he tried it himself," Rhys declares sharply._

_"Why is it so hard for you to believe that he genuinely cared about me?" she asks sharply, Jack's eyes on her as he kneels down in front of her, his hands resting on top of her own. "Have you ever considered if you just listened to him when you had the chance…"_

_"Handsome Jack cares about one person, himself," Rhys retorts. "Trust me on this, Mattie. He said it himself, he kept you around because you were_ **_useful_ ** _to him. That's all."_

_She pauses, and Jack watches her for her reaction. If she didn't know any better, she would say he's a little worried about it._

_"You are so full of shit," she spits at him, and Rhys looks at her with such horror she wants to ask him what he's so damn afraid of. Jack just grins in self-satisfaction._

_"How much did he corrupt you?" Rhys asks her, and he has the gall to actually sound worried about, and she scoffs._

_"I was already corrupted when Hera made me, Jack didn't change a single thing," she hisses, Rhys watching her eyes flicker between blue and gold._

_"He's still in there, isn't he?" Rhys asks. "He didn't die with Atlas, did he?"_

_"Don't tell him a single thing babe," Jack declares, finally speaking as he squeezes her hands a little._

_"Why? You afraid of what he'd do to you if he was still around?" she asks with a small smirk that is a perfect mirror of Jack's._

_"ADI, he's going to kill you if he's still in there, trust me," Rhys tells her as he looks at her sharply. "He might have told you about what happened on Helios, how I crashed it to get rid of him. But did he tell you why I had to? What he was going to do to me?"_

_"You probably deserved it," she replies coolly._

_"He did, babe, oh he did," Jack purrs, thumb tracing the top of her hand._

_"'Enjoy that body while it's still yours, kiddo.'_ **_That's_ ** _what he told me when I resisted working with him. The only reason he likes you is because you_ **_cater to him_ ** _. What you think he feels about you isn't affection, it's all careful manipulation. You're still useful to him, that's the only reason he's still keeping you around."_

_She falters a little, looking down at Jack who just shakes his head._

_"You're wrong," she declares firmly, and she sees Rhys look behind her at someone. She turns her head to see Nate standing there, a cord in his hand as well as an ECHO device._

_"You were right," Rhys murmurs to Nate, and it sounds so tired she can't help but open her mouth to question it._

_She finds herself yanked to her feet before she sprints forward, her hand around Nate's throat as she squeezes tightly. Her eyes dart over to Jack to see him mimicking the action, and she realizes with a jolt it's all him._

_If she had longer to think she might have dropped Nate due to the horror rising inside her, something urging her that despite everything she thinks Rhys could be right, that Jack could be lying to her._

_But instead, she's thrown to the ground, her grasp on Nate releasing in the same moment as she hears a voice speak to her coolly._

_"Touch him again and I'll shatter every vertebra," the voice snarls, cold and ethereal and she looks up slightly to see it coming from Rhys' mouth. His markings glow brightly, a neon purple like Eridium and she tries to wriggle out from underneath him. She feels something be shoved into the port at the base of her neck and a_ _sharp, practically desperate growl runs through her, too deep to be her voice and yet so familiar before she feels every part of her go limp._

_Her vision blackens within seconds, and when it returns she finds herself unable to move, surrounded by a wall of data._

_Her golden coding is littered with blue letters and numbers, and she watches helplessly as she hears herself begin yelling._

_"What the hell are you_ **_doing_ ** _?" she snarls, and yet she knows the words are not her own._

_"I might not be able to even save her basic coding," she hears someone murmur, the voice echoing around her. Nate._

_"Why do you even want to?" another voice asks, feminine. Fiona._

_"That's his bargain," another voice joins them tiredly. "He'll help us…but he wants her programming."_

_"Why do you need an Atlas Defense Intelligence?" Fiona asks sharply._

_"Does it matter?" he retorts just as sharply, though his voice is fading._

_"Fiona, we need him to help us. If he wants to take her we should let him," Rhys breaks in, and it's so faint now she strains to hear it._

_She doesn't hear any other response, her vision swimming with coding before that too flickers out._

_She feels the stiffness grip the rest of her body, and she allows herself to succumb to it._

_She dimly hears Jack begin to scream._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now I believe we've caught up to the present! From this point onward it's going to be focused on the present timeline, with that represented by non-formatting.
> 
> I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who's read this story so far! Sorry if it gets a bit confuzzling at times, but I promise it will all make sense in the end! (and I can assure you the Rhyiona feels will be highlighted more in the second half! They ARE still the main ship despite some recent, ahem, happenings in the story haha...)


	10. Unexpected Allies (and Enemies)

_ADI was given glimpses of the following months, scant moments when Nate rebooted her and Jack did not emerge in her place ready to tear Sanctuary apart._

_It was a tedious process from what she could gather, based on how much she heard Nate muttering to himself about the blue lines of code interwoven with her gold lines of programming. Blue that to her was rapidly fading with each moment she saw him again._

_Rhys appeared sometimes, his pristine Atlas suit soon replaced by a simple cotton long-sleeved shirt and jeans, appearing each time looking more and more like a Pandoran grifter, a stun baton on one hip as the other holster carried a slim pistol that looked like a combination of Atlas and Jakobs tech._

_He would always ask the same thing, his arms crossed as he regarded her._

_"Is she ready yet?"_

_That was when she learned what had happened in between these moments._

_It always seemed to be Jack coming back to the surface, sweet bargains given to Nate to release him that eventually turned to minor threats as time went on and Nate kept rejecting his offers. It was close to the end that it shifted into rampages in which Jack declared that once he got a body back he was going to enjoy strangling every last one of them until their eyes popped out. He liked to overload the servers at that point, though Nate always seemed to find a way to keep going. To keep hacking away at her code._

_Not that anyone seemed to know what they were going to do with her once Jack was cleared out._

_She suspected because they were starting to believe that he couldn't be cleared out, not completely. Quick snippets of conversations that ended with Nate gritting his teeth before she would be shut down again._

_Sometimes Fiona was there, though she didn't tend to be present if Rhys wasn't. It was fascinating to watch them together, almost like they were performing an intricate dance that only they knew the steps to. Glances would be exchanged in an instant without either really thinking about it. Fiona would lean into Rhys as they watched Nate work, Rhys' arm easily looping around her shoulders._

_She thought it was just a gesture of affection at first, until she was kept awake long enough to notice Fiona was looking paler as Rhys seemed to get more and more vibrant. Before she could scan her, she had been shut down again._

_She didn't tend to see the other Vault Hunters, though she knew of their existence. There was one that usually came around though, some petite redhead that kept asking to see her programming with such bubbly excitement that she swore she saw Nate hiding a grin behind his hand._

_The rest kept their distance, and she was beginning to suspect it was because of the man who was trying to reprogram her. Old animosities from a time when another Jack tried to level the city they were currently inhabiting._

_Not that Nate seemed to mind. He seemed to like the solitude she sometimes found him in, humming along to the radio he had beside him. Quietly typing away as he talked to himself, running a hand from time to time through hair fading back to a chocolate brown._

_That was the part she could never quite get used to, seeing a version of Jack in glorious technicolour. Chocolate brown hair that would flop against tanned skin, mismatched eyes watching her with some caution as he worked._

_She sometimes wondered what she had looked like, her time in that body too little to really look at her reflection. She learned in one of the first reboots that they had disposed of her body almost as soon as she was out of it, and she shuddered at the thought of them just tossing it into some dumpster for a Rakk to pick through._

_She missed it, actually. Having a body. This longing wasn't exactly helped by this whole 'being trapped in a monitor' business either._

_Not that she could ask anyone to change that for her. The Vault Hunters didn't want her roaming around for fear Jack might still be in there somewhere, Fiona and Rhys appeared as if they were dealing with their own set of issues and Nate didn't seem like he had those kinds of plans for her._

_He was too intent on trying to drive Jack out to care about much else._

 

 

She 'awoke' from the 'slumber' imposed on her for the last time as she dimly heard shouts from outside.

She expected to see Nate sitting at the desk, working on her coding, or even Rhys hovering nearby…but not to be greeted by an empty room.

Something flashed in the corner of her field of vision and she processed it automatically.

**U n33d 2 run, 4D1.**

She blinked and the message disappeared.

"I can't," she murmured to an empty room, her voice crackling in the cheap speakers.

**D0nt tru5t h1m.**

"I can't run," she emphasized, the message disappearing as she spoke. "I'm locked here. And who can't I trust?"

**U kn0 wh0. H3 w1ll s3ll u 0ut.**

"Sell me out to who?" She asked as she looked around the room. "I'm sorry, but what the hell is…"

**N0 t1m3 2 3xpl41n. 4cc3ss N3w-U @ Lynchw00d.**

"How?" She asked more sharply than she intended. "In are you haven't noticed, I'm trapped in this room!"

She heard a sharp crackle before the screen flooded with code, moving faster than she could follow before it began to organize itself. There was a pause before a hand shot out of the code, gripping onto her wrist before she was jerked forward.

"What are you doing?" She asked as she tried to pull away, her vision flooded with numbers and letters as she was yanked into the cloud of data.

Whoever was on the other side didn't respond, the movements of her coding slowing down before they stopped entirely.

As her vision flooded white, a single message stood out. A response to her question.

**B31ng 4 h3r0, b4by.**

 

 

_75 per cent._

That was how much of her coding Nate had been able to recover in the past few months. Not his best work, if he was being honest with himself, but then again, it was a miracle he had been able to recover any of her data in the first place.

Jack had not just interlinked their coding, he had made sure to dispose of whatever he liked. Meaning there were chunks of coding that simply were not there to be recovered, coding he had to input himself. Fingers darting over the keyboard as he muttered to himself angrily.

He prayed it would be worth all this effort he was putting into it.

Fiona was suspicious of his intentions, of course. He didn't blame her for it, too many years seeing the chaos that Handsome Jack brought to Pandora to trust the man that looked so much like him. It didn't mean he liked the cold stares pointed at the centre of his back, though.

Rhys at least was….decent, he supposed. Slowly but surely warming up to him, cold indifference replaced by cautious courtesy in the span of a few months. Never quite warm to Nate, but surprisingly helpful at times.

Nate had to hide his proud grin during those moments, when Rhys' fingers would fly across the keys as he asked rapid-fire questions about Nate's progress, making adjustments where needed. His markings always pulsated in those moments, something Nate learned was an indicator of an elevated heart rate.

Rhys actually seemed…excited to be working with the coding, a little code monkey just like his father.

 **Not** his father.

**_Not in this universe._ **

Nate **had** to remember that.

This wasn't the son he had left lying in a hospital bed, one of his eyes a milky green hue as he coughed wetly into his hand, asking with a hopeful grin when he could go home.

The impulse was still there, though. To ruffle a hand through Rhys' hair when he succeeded at getting through the coding or told the group that he was learning how to shoot properly. To offer advice when Rhys seemed like he was in need of someone to talk to, glimpses of panic in his eyes before he would mask it with an arrogance that made Nate snort. To squeeze his shoulder comfortingly as Rhys watched Fiona begin to fade, trying to assure him that everything would work out in the end.

_Eridium poisoning._

The injections had run out months ago, and it was apparent that Fiona needed them more than she had ever let on. She put on a brave face, but it was hard to miss the tone of her skin start to lose its colour, how her hands wavered whenever she practiced with the guns that Sanctuary had collected over the years.

And the only person who could have helped her was now buried near the Atlas crash site, her ambitions snatched away alongside the formula for the Eridium treatment with a single gunshot to the back of the head.

The sicker Fiona got the more Rhys seemed to throw himself into training, driving out into the desert for longer and longer periods, coming back with cuts on his arms and legs, his markings pulsating wildly as he slipped out of whichever vehicle he had borrowed.

The day he didn't return was when the first tremor went through Sanctuary.

 

 

Fiona knew somewhere in the back of her mind that she was likely to die in the course of this war.

Not that that wasn't the case on Pandora normally for her. Between Psychos keen to "strip the flesh, salt the wound", bandits keen to make a corpse out of a person even for a few bloodied bills, hell even some of the Vault Hunters who still distrusted the woman 'no better than that Atlas jackass she screwed', death was inevitable.

No one reached old age on Pandora, not without lady luck on their side. Or in Felix's case, knowing Pandora so well that he could cheat the system however he pleased.

She had always assumed she would be in the select group of the latter, too intelligent to die due to a gunshot to the heart or a buzz axe to the skull. Able to con until she was a ripe old age, able to sit on a comfy retirement after it all. Well, as comfy as spending the last of her days on Pandora could be, anyways.

But as the injections ran out and Rhys kept watching her with a caution she despised, she knew.

If whoever the enemy was didn't get her, the Eridium poisoning would.

And at the moment, it seemed like the Eridium was winning.

She hacked a few times, her hand coming back thinly covered in a neon purple sludge and she wiped it on her pants, hearing a faint hiss as she did so.

Only Rhys knew at the moment of her condition, and she didn't want to tell Sasha. Her sister had enough to worry about, fitting in with the Vault Hunters much easier than Fiona ever did and within a few days out helping civilians that didn't know how to fire a gun.

Fiona's hands had shook as she sat on that makeshift bed, writing out her last requests with jagged writing on whatever slips of paper she could find. Asking Sasha to take her place in the Vault Hunters, telling August that he better take good care of Sasha or she would find a way to haunt him from beyond the grave, asking Vaughn to make sure Rhys would be alright after she was gone.

It was the last request that broke her, hands crumpling the paper as she angrily tossed the paper at the door.

Only for it to open and her to hit Rhys smack in the forehead.

He looked a little perplexed as she lowered her hand slowly, bending down before he picked up the slip of paper.

"Vaughn, I know you have your own responsibilities taking care of the Children of Helios…but I want you to add someone to your numbers," he murmured to himself. "I need to know that Rhys will have someone to depend on once I am gone and I know…"

He stopped, lowering the paper to his side as he looked at her.

"What’s this?" he asked quietly.

"Rhys, you know that…" Fiona began.

" _You're not dying, Fiona_ ," he replied sharply, crumpling the paper in his metallic hand. His markings began to pulsate sharply, highlighting the cuts and bruises along his lean frame. " _I won't let you_."

"Oh, gee, thanks, didn't realize I needed your permission," she replied snidely and he bristled.

"I'm serious, Fiona."

"So am I. Rhys…I **am** dying. The sooner we accept that, the easier this will be…" Fiona began.

"For who? Because it’s certainly not me, is it?" he asked angrily as he approached the bed, slamming the door closed with his foot. "You think I **like** watching you waste away with each passing week knowing there is **nothing** I can do to stop it?"

"I'm sorry my impending demise is so **upsetting** for you," she snarled. "If it bothers you that much maybe you should just get a gun and _shoot me_ , just _get it over with_ …"

Rhys' face softened at that as her words hung in the air for a few moments. As she absorbed what had just left her mouth, a hand going to her mouth shakily as she closed her eyes and shuddered.

"Rhys….I didn't….I don't…" she began, failing each time to complete her sentence.

She felt the weight of the bed shift, an arm circling around her waist before a familiar warmness enveloped her frame, a cool metallic hand carding through her hair as she choked out a sob. She rested her head against the soft cotton of his shirt, breathing in the smell of sweat and Pandoran dust, so unlike that disgusting cologne he had slathered on the first time they had met that stunk of money she would never see.

She couldn't help but laugh brokenly at that.

"What?" he asked softly, his human hand resting against her bare leg as he brushed his thumb across it gently.

"I'm just remembering how much of a Hyperion jackass you used to be," she replied, and he laughed into her hair as he pulled her into his lap. She relished in the warmth as he rested his head on top of hers. "You…you had on this horrible cologne…"

"Eau du Handsome," Rhys replied with a snort. "By the Eridians, I'd forgotten about that…"

He tilted her head up and he looked at her with such a warmth she felt her cheeks flush automatically.

"Well little miss Pandoran scum, you smelt like sweat and Skag blood, so…" he continued as he rested his hands on the small of her back, and she took the opportunity to straddle him fully causing his eyebrows to shoot up into his hairline at the sudden amount of contact. Fiona smirked as he made a little squeak of surprise. "S-so I think we both know who smelt worse is all I'm saying…"

"I'm surprised you had time to notice," she teased and he flushed in embarrassment. "What, while we were looking at the bandit death rally you decided to sniff my clothes in the caravan?"

"No! C'mon, we were in that caravan for a while, the scents got trapped and that's how…." he began to ramble as she leaned forward, brushing her nose along his neck causing him to stop with a small gasp. She kissed his neck gently causing a small groan to escape before he pulled her head away, dragging her mouth up to meet his.

"Eager are we?" she teased as she pulled away a little, his response to peel off her shirt. He kissed every inch of her neck as he held her, and she realized with a jolt the reason for his desperation as his hands slid over every bit of her skin that he could reach.

He was trying to memorize every single inch of her, and she felt a tightness well up in her chest as he laid her down on the bed.

He peeled off his shirt, the clunky markings on display as he began to slide down her body, and she yanked him back up. His eyes widened in surprise as she shoved down his pants, him kicking them off clumsily as she wrapped her legs around his waist. She snorted a little at his effort before she ran a hand through his hair and smiled gently.

"Rhys?" she murmured, and he nodded. "Stay away from my sister, alright?"

He laughed at this, his breath warm against her skin before he responded with a gentle peck.

"Seriously, you don't have to worry about it," he replied as he began to worship her neck, tugging on her hair a little to get better access.

"And why is that?" she asked playfully, already knowing the response.

Rhys seemed to pause for a moment, his hands resting on her hips. He moved his head so that he was close to her mouth, his lips hovering close to hers before he replied.

"Because _I'm in love with someone else_."

Her eyes shot open as she stared at him, her mouth falling open as he leaned back and watched her reaction with amusement. When she didn't respond amusement became worry and he looked at her with a small frown that was increasing with each passing moment.

"Shit. Shit I said the wrong thing didn't I?" he replied quickly as he sat up. "I-I know that barely matters now, but I thought…"

"Rhys…" she began gently as she sat up.

"Well I thought you might as well know now, I mean **especially** now…" he continued.

"Rhys…" she tried again, a bit louder this time.

"A-and I know it's stupid to say this, but if you die I don't think there will…. _can_ be anyone else for me and…."

"Rhys, calm down," Fiona declared sharper than she intended. His mouth slipped shut as he watched her cautiously. "It's just that…that has to be, hands down the stupidest decision you've ever made. And I've seen you decide to try to steal a fake Vault Key deal and stick a psychopath into your skull…"

"I-I'm sorry, I just…" he began when she leaned forward, cutting him off with a firm peck on the mouth. She pulled away and grinned at the comic expression on his features.

"But…as it turns out, I _might_ be in love 'with someone else' too."

He looked puzzled before his eyes widened and he grinned from ear to ear.

"Well who's the stupid one now?" he teased as he drew her in close, kissing her softly and she smirked against his mouth.

"Still you, jackass," she retorted. "I'm not the one in love with someone who's dying."

He pulled away, brushing a strand of hair away from her face.

"You're not going to die, Fiona. _I promise you that_."

 

 

She awoke the next day to find herself alone in the bed and frowned as she spotted the note fluttering on her desk.

She slipped on her shirt and underwear as she padded over to the note, picking it up between her fingers before she read its contents.

"Be back in a few hours. I think I found us the answer we've been searching for. - Rhys"

She placed the note back on the desk and sighed to herself as she looked around the room.

She felt a slight tremor underneath her feet before it increased suddenly, knocking her to the ground sharply.

She groaned as she rubbed her side, sitting up as her door banged open.

Chocolate brown hair flopped in front of a long face, mismatched eyes watching her worriedly as she was helped up quickly.

"Fiona, we need to run. Now," Nate declared quickly. "Grab your sister and Vaughn, and meet me at the Fast Travel station near the centre of town."

"What's going on?" she asked as he checked out into the hallway.

A second tremor went through the building and she stumbled, knocking into the desk with a groan as Nate gripped the doorway.

"Nothing good," he replied with gritted teeth as he motioned for her to follow him. "I've learned in moments like these, it's best to just pack up, run as far and as fast as possible, and _not question it_..."

Slipping on a pair of pants and her boots, she stumbled after him down the stairs, noticing with relief that Sasha and Vaughn appeared to be near the entrance, looking into the main square worriedly. Fiona looked past them, stopping in her tracks as Nate did the same halfway through the doorway.

"Son of a taint," Nate swore as two pairs of hollow eyes looked at them from white mask-like faces, the markings on their bodies glowing as their eyes seemed to be flooded with shades of neon that matched their markings. To Fiona's shock, they looked almost...human. The pair watched Fiona and Nate for a few moments before they sprang towards them, Fiona spotting a strand of bright red hair on one of them.

Nate shoved Fiona back into the headquarters before he sprinted in after her, closing the door with a firm bang before it locked automatically.

"What…the hell…were _those_?" Fiona asked as she sat up, and Nate's only response was to shrug helplessly.

"Your guess is as good as mine, kiddo," he replied. 

"It's not a what, it's a **who** ," Sasha declared as she crossed her arms and looked at Fiona. 

"What do you mean, it's a who?" Fiona asked cautiously, and she watched as August emerged from one of the cots, a gun slung across his back as he handed one to Sasha. 

"Your little Siren pals snapped, tattoos went all bright and shit, eyes too," August explained. "They couldn't seem to get out fast enough."

A sharp cry went through the air and Nate clutched his skull as he gritted his teeth, falling to his knees as he groaned. 

"What's wrong with him?" August asked as Nate buried his head in his hands, groaning louder as the sharp noise seemed to increase. 

"Get...me...to...Fiona's...room," he replied through gritted teeth, and Fiona saw snow white markings begin to pulsate wildly on his frame. August looked at Fiona for confirmation, and when she nodded curtly he helped the Jack double to his feet, the group sprinting up to her room. Nate stumbled in ahead of them and before they could blink, he slammed the door shut. 

"Open the door asshole!" August snarled as he banged the butt of his pistol against the door, causing a loud clang to reverberate through the hallway. 

"Not...until...they're gone," he struggled out, and Fiona frowned as it sounded like he was close to sobbing. 

Sasha dashed down the stairs as August and Fiona both reached for her at the same moment, watching her retreat down the stairs helplessly.

"They don't seem to be leaving," Sasha called out from downstairs and there was a sharp clunk in Fiona's room. 

"Can someone please just explain **what the hell is going on**?" August asked in apparent frustration.

" _We told you_ war _was coming, Vault Hunters. Well now it has arrived...and it is time for the final battle to commence_ ," Nate declared in a cool voice, practically etheral and Fiona froze in horror. "But first...we need to _retrieve_ something." 

Something slammed against the front door as well as against the door of Fiona's room, and Vaughn responded cautiously. 

"What do you _need_ exactly?" 

"Simple, friend of Ares. _We need his Aphrodite_."


	11. Bargains and Other Mistakes We Make For Love

The words hang in the air as the persistent banging continued from both doors, the one in the common room beginning to creak and groan as it sounded like Lillith and Maya were **slamming** their bodies into it.

The rest of the group were clueless to the meaning behind Nate's words, but Fiona knew. The name that the Eridians called Rhys, something he had mentioned in passing when speaking of his misadventures in another universe.

The sinking realization made her stop, stepping away from the door as she struggled to breathe.

Why did they want _her_? She was _nothing_ to them, a dying human that could easily be executed in battle.

And why was Rhys suddenly working with them? The last time she had checked, any form of alliance between Rhys and the Eridians was non-existent.

The sharp cry went through the air and the pounding on both doors ceased within moments, and Fiona heard Nate thump onto the floor. Sasha dashed up the stairs, nodding for August to prep his gun as she did the same, and the pair opened the door with a loud bang.

Dual clicks of bullets being loaded into the barrels of their weapons sounded as the pair both pointed their guns at the figure huddled on the floor, neon purple fluid flecked with white dripping out of the corner of his mouth.

"Get up," August ordered, and Nate shakily wiped the corner of his mouth as he stood up. He gritted his teeth as he rubbed at his shoulder, trying to pop the joint back in place before he succeeded with a sickening click. "Now, we want some answers for whatever that shit was. Understood?"

 "Language," Nate replied quietly and Fiona's mouth quirked up for a moment. He met August's eyes and shuddered out a sigh. "I'm not sure what you expect me to know."

"You were acting as their little messenger boy a few seconds ago, you have to know something," Sasha declared and Nate rolled his eyes.

"Yes, because _clearly_ after a few moments of possession I suddenly have _infinite_ knowledge of whatever the hell _that_ was," he retorted snidely. "All I know is what I told you. Ares wants his Aphrodite, whatever the hell that means."

"Who the hell is Ares?" August asked, and Fiona closed her eyes before she responded.

"Ares is Rhys. It's what the Eridians call him," Fiona murmured as she leaned against a wall for support, crossing her arms automatically. She opened her eyes and looked at Sasha. "Which I guess makes me Aphrodite."

"So you're telling me Rhys is working with the Eridians?" Vaughn asked as someone unlocked the door downstairs. The whole group tensed, weapons at the ready before the person called out.

"Everyone still in one piece?" Janey called out, and a few of the members of the group replied in variations of the affirmative. "What the hell was that? Felt like someone was shooting at the moon again…"

"We're up here Janey," Sasha called out, the telltale clunk of boots in the common area travelling upstairs before they were followed by a series of lighter footsteps. "We're thinking Eridians, maybe?"

"Why would they attack Sanctuary?" a new voice declared, and Fiona smiled at the familiarity of it as two pairs of feet echoed in the hall. The pair emerged and stepped into the room, Athena barely paying attention to the tanned man now leaning against the makeshift bed.

"Nice to see you Athena," Fiona declared as she looked at the blue-haired assassin, who gave Fiona a curt nod. She was quickly tailed by her own blonde mechanic who immediately rushed over to Fiona at the sight of Fiona's paled skin tone. "I-I'm fine, Janey."

"Clearly you're not, you look like death warmed up," Athena replied and Janey shot her a look.

"We…we don't know why they're trying to attack us, only that they seem to want Fiona," Nate declared, and Athena glanced at him for a moment before she sighed.

"Then I suppose we should start preparing to protect her then."

"I don't need to be protected!" Fiona protested before she coughed into her hand wetly, her hand coming back with a dab of purple bile that she wiped on her pant leg. "I can manage on my own…"

"Fiona, you're barely holding yourself up," Janey commented worriedly as Fiona slumped more against the wall. "Perhaps you should sit this one out."

"No, what needs to happen is I need to…" Fiona began before she coughed again, more violently this time. She could feel multiple pairs of eyes on her back as she doubled over, hacking away as she clutched her stomach and shuddered.

She looked up for a moment to see Sasha staring at her in horror and felt guilt begin to twist her stomach as she swayed. She felt herself begin to pitch forward a little and felt a pair of arms catch her, looking up in time to see a pair of bright green eyes looking down at her with a worry that only made her feel worse.

"Sasha, there's something…." She began hoarsely before she coughed again, shuddering.

"You have Eridium poisoning, don't you?" Sasha murmured as she helped her sister stand up. "Fi, why didn't you…"

"I didn't want you to worry," Fiona interrupted hoarsely.

"Fi, we're sisters. Worrying's kinda in the MO," Sasha replied with a small chuckle and a warm smile that Fiona returned weakly.

"Someone should stay back, make sure the Eridians don't get to her," Athena declared as she crossed her arms.

"I'll do it."

The group turned their heads to look at the source of the voice, watching as Nate stood up shakily.

"They can control you, it wouldn't be safe," Athena replied firmly, and Fiona felt relief flood through her that it wouldn't be him left alone with her. "Sasha can stay back, the rest of us need to fortify the town in case the Eridians try to attack again."

Sasha nodded in agreement, though August looked a little hesitant. The rest of the group seemed to ignore him, filing out of the room one by one leaving Fiona alone with her sister and the man who she was more than wary of.

"Sorry, I just….I need a minute," Nate declared as he took a few deep breaths, curling and uncurling his fingers as his markings glowed faintly. Fiona found herself watching them with interest, noticing how the swirls mimicked those of Rhys', and it was that thought that made a certain phrase go through her mind.

**"You're not going to die, Fiona.** **_I promise you that_ ** **."**

"Hey Fi, are you okay?" Sasha asked as her sister wobbled a little, clutching at the desk as her heart began to pound wildly. As she fully realized that Rhys wasn't just saying that in the afterglow…he had actually  meant it.

"I-I'm fine, Sash," she murmured as Sasha helped her into a nearby chair. "Actually, would you mind going downstairs for a moment and getting me some of the health injectors? They…they tend to help a little…"

Sasha crossed her arms as she looked at Nate.

"You sure you're alright being left alone with him?" Sasha asked quietly as she nodded towards Nate, who frowned in response.

"You'll have to leave me alone with him eventually, might as well get it out of the way," Fiona replied with a small smile. "Besides, it'll only be for a few seconds…."

"Fair enough. Though even _that_ seems too long to be spending time with someone that looks like _him_ ," Sasha replied and Nate looked like he was going to protest. Sasha went down the stairs before he could respond and Fiona laughed weakly at the look of frustration on his features.

"I feel insulted," Nate declared as he sat on the bed, rubbing his shoulder before he hissed. "Son of a taint…nearly popped my shoulder out…"

"You need to get me out of Sanctuary," Fiona declared, and Nate looked at her in surprise.

"I feel like that's the opposite of what I should do, kiddo," he retorted.

"I'm just as safe out there facing the Eridians as I am in here with you," she fired back, and he pursed his lips. "You and I both know they’re going to come back, and they're going to try to use you again to get to me."

"Why do they want you so badly?"

Fiona closed her eyes and sighed.

"Because I think Rhys made a deal with the Eridians…for me. To keep me alive."

"What would Rhys have for them though in exchange?" Nate asked quickly. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but they don't strike me as the charitable type…"

Fiona chuckled drily.

"My best guess? Himself."

Nate's mouth fell open before he scrambled to his feet, searching the room desperately.

"What are you doing?" Fiona asked as she watched him.

"You wanted out of Sanctuary right?" Nate asked hurriedly, and when she nodded he strode over and pulled her to her feet.

"Oww, by the Eridians…" Fiona swore as Nate began to yank open drawers, pulling out two pistols before he strapped them to his frame. "What, you expect Sasha is just going to let us walk out of here?"

This seemed to stop Nate, his breath laboured slightly as he looked at Fiona.

"Fair point. So what's our plan then for when we get Rhys back?"

"Wait, our plan? We? I just need you to get me out of the city, that's it. I never said you were coming with me," Fiona replied firmly and Nate shook his head.

"If I don't go you don't either," Nate replied evenly.

The pair glared at each other for a few moments, mismatched green and blue staring down pale green.

"You don't know Pandora like I do," Fiona declared.

"And you don't know where the Eridians are," Nate retorted with a small smirk.

"Oh, and you do?" Fiona asked, skepticism in every word and Nate grinned.

"What did you think was going to happen if I got out of that room?" Nate replied. "I was going to grab you and take you to them. Meaning, _I know where they are_."

Fiona was the first to look away as Sasha returned with a few syringes in her hands.

"Sorry, had to hunt through a lot of lockers to find these," Sasha declared as she set them on the desk.

Fiona plunged one into her arm and hissed as the medication ran through her. She allowed Sasha to help her to the bed, lying down and closing her eyes as Sasha sat at the desk.

Fiona opened her eyes to see Sasha giving Nate a cold stare, causing the latter to put up his hands and walk out of the room, muttering something under his breath.

"Fi, can I talk to you about…" Sasha began after Nate had left. She glanced over to see her elder sister asleep on the bed and chuckled to herself, pulling out a slim ring with a small gemstone in the centre. She held it between her fingers and sighed. "Guess it can wait a few hours."

 

Fiona had been right for the most part. Rhys **had** gone to the Eridians to ask them for help in keeping her alive.

He had hoped after the collapse of Atlas that they would not be able to track him down again, and yet the first time he went into the desert to gather supplies for Sanctuary a few Guardians had found him.

They towered over him as they communicated with the part of him that was not human, told him that war was mere moments away. That the time had come for him to swear his loyalties, to begin his training.

"But I already have sworn my loyalty, like you said, to the Vault Hunters," he had replied, and the voice chuckled.

“Do not place your loyalties in those that do not deserve it,” the voice had declared. "Not that it will matter in the end."

That phrase had haunted him as he went back to Sanctuary, as he slipped into Fiona's room and sat at the foot of her bed. As he slipped off his jacket and risked slipping under the thin blanket beside her, smiling to himself when she curled into him instinctively.

And so he had returned the next week to ask what they had meant, but all they told him was that the days were growing numbered, that his training needed to begin.

He had been wary, of course, but then again, whatever training they provided had to be for the benefit of the Vault Hunters, right? Whoever this enemy was, they needed to be prepared…and Rhys wanted all the help he could get to succeed.

Besides, Tim had never fully trained him, back in that other universe. Might be kind of exciting to see the full extent of his powers without worrying he would hurt someone.

Months passed as he was trained, each time coming home to Sanctuary with cuts on his back but a small smile on his face.

Each time returning a little stronger as Fiona weakened, and each time feeling his stomach sink lower and lower as she kept fading away.

The Eridium that courses through his veins was killing her without Hera's injections, and his own late-night investigations into alternative treatments were….well let's just say there wasn't a lot of research on treatment of Eridium poisoning.

_Some might say non-existent._

He wondered just how many people he'd sent to their death with that damn Eridium mine deal and the pit in his stomach only grew larger.

Would that have changed anything, though? If he'd known? He had been with Hyperion, so sure what he was doing was the right thing that he had not even considered alternatives.

Maybe it was that that convinced him to try to ask the Eridians for help. If only to save one person to make up for all those others he had sent to their graves.

Or maybe it was because, deep down, he couldn't bear the thought of losing her. Of a world where she wasn't there to call him out on his bullshit. To snark him when he messed up.

To press his lips against her shoulder as she curled up against him. Little moments where his heart would swell as she grinned at him, still trying to convince himself that this was all real.

Moments that were rapidly fading as Fiona did. Happy smiles turning into hacking coughs as he rubbed her back and prayed he wouldn't wake up tomorrow to find her gone.

He had no clue what the Eridians would want in return, but he was willing to pay it.

Which turned out to be his first mistake.

 

The Vault had been pretty much abandoned in the last few months, many people too scared to try to leave Pandora without the injections and those who could have leg already did months ago when Atlas fell.

So when two figures emerged, they were greeted by the grand expanse of the Pandoran desert.

The taller one pulled back his hood to reveal a mop of ginger hair, glinting in the sun as he turned to look at his companion.

Her snow white hair stood out as she glanced at her ECHO.

"We shouldn't be too far from Sanctuary," she declared as she looked into the distance.

The man frowned and the young woman squeezed his arm comfortingly, her tanned fingers wrapped around his arm.

"He'll be fine, I promise," she reassured him. "He's just going to find that there are some technical difficulties with the door to his office, that's all."

The man gave her a weak smile before he took the ECHO from her fingers, their hands meeting on top of the device as a light blush to dust his features.

"We could do it, you know," he murmured to her quickly. "He can't communicate with us between universes, we could just…."

"We…we should probably get going," she replied instead, allowing him to take the device from her hands.

She walked ahead of him, pulling up her hood and the man frowned to himself before he followed.

 

Fiona allowed Nate to help her into one of the trucks, throwing a blanket over her as she lay in the ditch between the front and back seats.

Sasha had passed out after an hour, sleep she didn't realize she needed finally catching up with her as she snored gently in the chair.

Fiona's stomach had twisted as she snuck past her sister, slipping a pistol into her pocket before she snuck out the door.

She wished she could ask her sister for help with this…but she wasn't going to put her in more danger than she needed to be in. And besides, Sasha was a lot safer in Sanctuary protected by the other Vault Hunters.

Well, what remained of them anyways after the sudden departure of Lillith and Maya.

"You sure this is going to work?" Nate asked her nervously as he slipped into the front seat.

"Just tell the guards that you need to get some last minute supplies. You…you heard there was a crate of guns near the Maliwan factory and you think we need it," Fiona replied. "It's far enough from Sanctuary that they won't get suspicious if you're gone for a few hours…"

"It's also only about 1% likely that it's true," he retorted as he threw the blanket over her and went into the front seat. He sat there in silence for a few moments before he started the car, and Fiona lay there immobile as the truck rumbled underneath her.

"Where do you think you're going?" one of the Crimson Lance barked. Fiona risked a peek from under the blanket to see Nate leaning out of the car a little, something in his palm. She realized with a jolt it was a wad of cash, and she held her breath as the solider stared down at it.

"There's a bandit camp that took the rest of the Atlas guns we need. Problem is, the other Vault Hunters? They think it's just a rumour," Nate replied smoothly. "Let me leave for a few hours and try to get them, and I can guarantee you'll get a better gun out of it kiddo. Not to mention another hundred if you don't tell them where we're going. Wouldn't want them to worry."

The solider looked down at the cash before they looked back up at him, taking the cash quickly before they gave him a curt nod.

"So glad we could come to an understanding," he replied charmingly as he drove out through the entrance, inputting the coordinates for the Fast Travel station before they dissipated into a series of pixels.

Fiona lurched in the crevice, her stomach twisting as they appeared to float for a few moments before they landed with a sharp thud. She groaned a little and sat up, rubbing her head as Nate nursed his neck.

"Nice job," Fiona commented as she winced, and Nate let out a dry chuckle.

"Oh, that must have hurt to say," he replied as she expected, though she was a little surprised at how… _teasing_ , it sounded, rather than hostile like she had anticipated.

_Reminded her a little of Rhys, actually._

"So how far is this Eridian encampment anyways?" Fiona asked as she slid into the back seat, and Nate shrugged a little.

"A few hours at the most…from the way thinks looked…" Nate began.

"Wait, **looked**? What do you mean by looked?" Fiona asked as she leaned forward.

"From the way things looked, it's closer to the edge of the Pandoran Gully," Nate continued as he drove. "Just look for the tallest, creepiest things you can set your eyes on and we'll know we're there."

"You didn't answer my question. How do you know what it looks like if you've never been there?" Fiona asked in curiosity.

"Because they showed it to me," Nate replied as he fiddled with the radio. It played in the background as Nate reached  out his hand. "Pass me my gun would you?"

"Why?" Fiona asked sceptically as he wiggled his fingers impatiently.

"Because if we run into any unexpected friends I want to be prepared. C'mon, time's a wasting," Nate retorted impatiently and she crossed her arms. He glanced into the rear view mirror and clicked his tongue before he looked ahead. "Alright, what's the problem kiddo?"

"Don't call me kiddo," Fiona replied sharply as she looked at him.

"'Cause of him?" Nate asked knowingly, and when she didn't responded he sighed. "Force of habit. I'll work on it."

"Well, that and the fact you look barely older than Sasha," Fiona replied and he smiled a little.

"How old's your sister?" He asked.

"Twenty-five," Fiona replied. "And she's spoken for, if that's why you're asking."

Nate laughed sharply at this.

"Oh no, I'm not keen to get my head blown off by some gun fetishist," he retorted bluntly and Fiona bristled. "Besides, she's not really my type."

"Not corrupt enough for you?" She asked, and Nate sighed.

"No wonder Rhys thought he hated you," Nate muttered and Fiona couldn't help but smirk. "Look, shouldn't you be happy I'm not trying to go after her?"

"I'd be happier if I knew what you meant by, 'not my type'," Fiona replied honestly.

"I don't tend to want to go after women that are 'spoken for'," Nate replied with a small grin.

"Oh," Fiona found herself replying.

"What? Didja expect some grand reason?" Nate asked with amusement, and she didn't respond. "Besides, she seems to go for older men…and I'm not exactly in that age bracket."

"What does that mean?" Fiona asked testily.

"Look, August is, what, thirty-five probably?" Nate asked, and when Fiona didn't respond he continued. "I'm twenty-seven. Too young for her."

"You're….you're younger than Rhys," Fiona replied in surprise.

"I know, the premature greying adds a few years," Nate replied as he ran a hand through his hair, and Fiona noticed a few silver strands starting to creep in. "So, let me guess…you thought I was thirty or something? Thirty-five?"

"I just…" Fiona began as she tried to gather her thoughts together. "I-I'm used to thinking of you…him, as in his forties."

"Ah. Happy surprise?" Nate asked as he turned left, causing Fiona to shift a little in the backseat.

"Just…just how old were you when you had your son?" Fiona asked quietly, and Nate sighed.

"Seventeen. She was fifteen, some asshole knocked her up and then left when she started to get sick. Did the stupid thing and fell in love with her," Nate replied. "Rest is history."

Nate made another turn before he stopped the car.

"We're here," Nate murmured, and Fiona noticed his markings faintly glow. She couldn't help but stare as they grew brighter and brighter with each passing moment. "Now, the plan is…"

A sharp cry went through the air and Fiona clutched her ears automatically, curling forward as the sound bounced around in her skull.

She dimly heard Nate shift in the front seat, and she risked a glance up.

His eyes had gone pure white, glowing brightly as he watched her with a cool indifference, and her heart plummeted as she tried to scramble out of the car.

She was able to slip over the side, hissing to herself as she landed on her feet somehow, her gun already prepped when she heard a sharp series of zings go through the air, like metal meeting thin air.

She lifted her head up to see a group of tall creatures looking down at her, their weapons pointed at her throat as she rose to her feet unsteadily.

She was vastly outnumbered, and she swallowed audibly as their long weapons seemed to track her every movement, the knives still at her neck as she stood there.

There was a strange sort of babbling before someone let out a sharp click, and their heads swivelled in the direction of the sound.

Nate slipped out of the car, his voice ethereal as he held up his hands.

"She is the one that Ares wants. Do not harm her," he spoke calmly, his markings blazing white neon through his threadbare shirt. "Unless you are willing to face his wrath."

Fiona was surprised when they all lowered their weapons instantly, and they all stepped back. Nate stepped forward, gripping her arm tightly and she jerked away from his grip out of reflex.

"I will take her to him," Nate declared, and the group parted as he dragged her through. She risked a glance back to see them circling the car with interest, before they dispersed, looking as if they had never appeared in the first place.

Fiona shuddered weakly as she was led to a large rock formation, Nate leading her through the opening where they were greeted by multiple pairs of eyes, Eridian, Siren and Daimon alike all watching the pair.

She tried to slow down her pounding heart, taking an assessment of the situation as Nate led her closer and closer to a glowing entrance.

That Nate was not in control of himself, and that there was no chance in hell she was prepared for what was on the other side of that entrance. For once, she was walking into a situation where not a single card was in her favour, and her only bargaining chip still had not appeared.

She closed her eyes as the light assaulted their vision, and when she opened them she took a step back automatically.

It was like the Vault of the Traveller, stones appearing to float of their own accord as Eridians stood by and watched them with a calmness that unnerved her. Eyeless holes stared back at her as Nate dragged her up the main walkway, up the stone stairs and across to the main rock formation where a group of Eridians stood.

Nate made a sharp click with his tongue and the group turned to look at him, parting slightly to reveal a familiar figure standing there, his blue markings glowing brightly as his amber eye glowed, the other eye a dim gold in comparison.

Rhys barely looked human as he approached them, every step calculated as he held a thin rod in his hand, a faint echo to that damn stun baton he had back in his early days on Pandora. He appeared to mutter something and the group parted.

His footsteps echoed in the cavern as he approached the pair, his human hand out to them before he stopped. He motioned for the pair to step forward and Nate dragged her towards him, causing her to stumble before she stood only a short distance away.

He flicked his wrist for Nate to disappear, and Nate seemed to bow before he turned on his heel and walked back down the walkway.

Rhys didn't say a word, stepping forward before his hand rested on her neck, his thumb gliding over the column of her throat before he turned to the Eridians. They appeared to say something to him before he nodded, turning his head back to face her.

He leaned forward, his mouth meeting hers softly, and despite her reservations she returned it with an eagerness that stunned her. As she gripped at his clothes, as she found herself overcome with emotion at the fact that he was still alive when she didn't even realize she had been worried he was dead.

She smiled against his lips before he pulled away, and his eyes seemed to flicker back to normal as he looked at her with some confusion.

"Fiona?" He asked uncertainly as he held her.

She was the first to collapse, the blackness swallowing her as she slumped forward, and Rhys only held her for seconds before he too succumbed.

The brightness in Nate's eyes flickered just as the pair collapsed, and he turned around just in time to see them slumped against each other as two Eridians approached them.

"Rhys?" He called out automatically, causing the two guards at the door to look at him, black holes watching him as he surged forward out of pure paternal instinct. "Rhys?"

They surged towards him in turn, their weapons poised as he heard a building cry in his ears, causing him to skid to a halt before he began to run in the opposite direction.

He only got a few metres away before the screaming increased and he collapsed forward, clutching his ears as he gritted his teeth.

A sharp whiteness went through his vision, and he had no choice but to succumb to it as multiple lean figures approached, hovering above him as his vision faded entirely to this whiteness as his last conscious thought passed through his mind.

_Oh son of a frickin' TAINT._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So for those of you looking at chapter 11 going "WHERE THE FLIP IS 4D1?!?" I would like to reassure you that she has not disappeared for good. 
> 
> See, the thing is....well, she's not really going to be interacting with Rhys and Fiona anymore. The end of her interaction with them came in Chapter 10 when she went to Lynchwood (yep, THAT's going to end well) and it wouldn't make sense to keep telling her story at this point. 
> 
> Her story WILL, however, be continued in Glimpses of Chaos...and oh, the plans I have for her....


	12. The Pieces Are Set

Sasha awoke to the odd sensation that she was plummeting, her entire body appearing to float for a few brief seconds before she was slammed back down into the chair, the whiplash in her neck causing her to cry out.

She looked to the bed automatically to check that Fiona was alright, standing up shakily when she was greeted by the sight of an empty bed.

"Fiona?" She called out, half-expecting to hear her sister groaning from the lower level of the building. When she was greeted with silence she slammed open the door, darting down the stairs as someone darted up towards her.

"Are you alright?" August asked her, and she tried to shove past him only for his arm to snag itself around her waist and hold her back. "Whoa whoa whoa Sash, what's going on?"

"Where's Fiona?" She asked as she tried to get past him, but his grip tightened as he kept holding her back.

"Calm down," he replied, his thumb tracing a small circle into her hip. "Isn't she upstairs?"

"If she was do you think I would be trying to get downstairs?" She asked sharply, and August frowned before she forced him to release his grip on her. She sped past him and his head swivelled in time with the movement, before she heard a pair of boots clunking down the stairs.

"Sasha, wait a minute…" August began as she went into the main area, her eyes rapidly darting around the room as she searched for her sister.

The sight that greeted her made her skid to a halt, as Vaughn appeared to be bandaging up a young woman's arm, her hair white as snow as a man stood nearby with his arms crossed and a deep frown on his features.

Freckles adorned the man's body, including a thick smattering of them across his face, and it was the face in particular that made Sasha automatically reach for the gun strapped to her side.

The man seemed to catch this out of the corner of his eye, lifting up his head before his eyes widened. He lifted up his arms automatically, and Sasha felt an odd thrill go through her at the sight of Handsome Jack looking scared.

The door to the building banged open as Sasha poised her fingers over the gun.

"Sasha, don't!" A familiar voice declared sharply, and Sasha turned her head to see Athena giving her a warning glare as she approached Jack. Jack looked at her with an open expression of relief as Athena stood in front of him a little.

"Give me one good reason why," she asked coolly. "Because from here it looks like you're protecting Handsome Jack."

"Because this isn't Jack," Athena replied. "This is…an old Vault Hunting friend of mine."

"Who looks like Handsome Jack?" Sasha asked sceptically.

"Look, it's a bit of a long story and…" Athena began before the man murmured something to her. Athena looked a little skeptical, but she nodded and allowed him to step back.

The man stuck out his hand to her.

"Timothy Lawrence….former body double for Handsome Jack," he introduced with a nervous sort of grin. "Though I do respond to Percy…"

Sasha looked to Athena for confirmation, and the blue haired woman nodded.

"Sasha," she replied uncertainly, though she only stared at the long fingers rather than take his hand. The man lowered his hand and frowned a little.

"Sasha, he's not going to hurt us. Besides, if he does we can just shoot him in the face. Sound fair?" August declared and she rolled her eyes before she let her arm dangle at her side.

"So you're his body double….and who's she?" Sasha asked as she nodded towards the tanned woman sitting on one of the cots, Vaughn working on her arm.

"Jack's daughter," the woman replied wryly. "Just call me Andromeda."

"Angel. Her name is Angel," Tim declared quickly, and the woman on the bed frowned a little.

"Jack's daughter?" August asked skeptically, and Angel smiled a little.

"You looked surprised," she retorted.

"I just didn't expect anyone would want to screw that…man," August seemed to hold back as the woman looked at him expectantly.

"You mean asshole, right?" She retorted drily. "Don't worry, I've heard every bad name for him in the book, and trust me, he deserved every single one of them."

August seemed to smile a little at that.

"So why are you two here?" Sasha asked.

"We're looking for someone called Nemesis?" Tim retorted. "We think we might know how to stop him."

"You're a little late on that front," Vaughn replied as he finished up on Angel's arm. "Rhys caught the bastard a few months ago now."

"Oh," Tim replied quietly before he looked at Angel. "Theseus isn't going to like that."

"Nope," Angel replied, popping the 'p' as she said it.

"Has…has he been taken care of?" Tim asked and when Vaughn nodded a relieved grin spread across his features.

Sasha never thought she'd say this…but Jack could look adorable.

"Who's Theseus?" August asked.

"A friend," Tim replied automatically, before a sad sort of smile crossed his features. He shook it off quickly, squaring his shoulders as a faint rumble went through the town. He tensed at this, automatically pulling out his gun and Sasha was tempted to do the same before a sharper tremor went through the ground followed by a high-pitched cry.

Sasha clutched her ears as she gritted her teeth, trying to block out the sound as she watched the others in the bunker try to do the same. Only Angel seemed to not be effected, the familiar markings of a Siren glowing brighter with each passing moment as she stood up.

She began to walk towards the door as another tremor went through the town, but instead she appeared to stumble, her hands curled into fists as she gritted her teeth. Sasha watched as she struggled back towards the group, falling to her knees as the screaming faded and she panted heavily.

Tim rushed towards her, kneeling down in front of her before he clutched her arm tenderly, his other hand going up to rest on her cheek as he murmured something to her. She nodded weakly and he smiled a little, standing up before he helped her to her feet.

"How…how long has that been going on?" Angel asked weakly, leaning against Tim as she spoke.

"A day or two…I'm sorry, how were you able to fight that off?" Athena asked bluntly.

"Fight what off?" Angel asked gently.

"The last two people we saw do that practically sprinted out of the door, as if they were being controlled by some sick puppet master," Vaughn explained. "So how did you resist it?"

"You don't spend most of your life under someone else's control without learning a thing or two," she replied as she rested her head against Tim's arm and Tim's mouth set itself in a thin line. "Has anyone else besides the Sirens left the city?"

"I think the question you should be asking is who hasn't left the city," Athena replied honestly.

"Half the population ran when the first tremor went through the town," Vaughn explained, and Angel seemed to sway a little before Tim steadied her, encouraging her to sit down on the bed.

"And…and the other Vault Hunters?" Tim asked as he helped her, and she nodded to him gratefully, their eyes meeting for a few seconds too long. Tim was the first to look away, a warmness to his cheeks as he looked at the group.

"In the Dust trying to gather supplies," Vaughn retorted. "We sent them out after the first attack. Most…most of them haven't returned."

"And Fiona's disappeared too, apparently," August piped up, causing the group to look at him. "What? Why are you looking at me like it's my fault? It's not like I was in charge of her…."

Vaughn dashed up the stairs, two at a time before it sounded he like stopped outside of Fiona's room. His boots sounded on the floor upstairs as he went to the room that housed AI Jack, stopping once more before he went back down the stairs.

"Rhys and Ja- I mean Nate are gone too," he declared with a deep frown.

A knot twisted itself in Sasha's stomach at Vaughn's words.

"The entire city's on lockdown at the moment, they couldn't get too far," Janey declared. "And the guards at the gate told us no one's left the city in the past couple of hours."

"Why would they run off though?" Sasha asked the rest of the group. "I mean, we know that Nate just would want to save his own ass…but Rhys…"

"Maybe he did the same," August declared and Sasha gave him such a sharp look his hands went up automatically. "I'm just saying, once Hyperion, always Hyperion…."

Athena frowned to herself as she crossed her arms.

"What is it?" Janey asked her fiancée, who's response was to purse her lips for a few moments.

"It doesn't make sense…" Athena declared, and Janey nodded for her to continue. "When I was captured by Lillith and the other Vault Hunters, we were told that the war was coming…and we were going to need every Vault Hunter we could get. It doesn't make sense for them to start attacking us when it seemed like they wanted our help."

"Maybe their plans changed," August declared, and Athena shook her head.

"Or maybe they just wanted us all in one place before they eliminated us," Athena retorted. "Wouldn't be the first time an army has grouped people together to make them easier to pick off."

There was a knowing tone to her words and a chill went through the air at the implication.

"Well I for one ain't that keen to just sit here and wait for death," Janey declared. "I say we fight back."

"Fight back how exactly?" August asked pointedly. "In case you didn't notice, we're down to a quarter of our numbers….."

"We fought with much less than that when we took down that Vault Monster," Athena reminded him.

"We also had Rhys and Fiona there helping us," Sasha pointed out.

"Fiona's at this point too weak to be of any use and Rhys can't fight. They'd slow us down," Athena declared bluntly, causing the group to look at her in shock. "Look, Fiona can take care of herself wherever she is. And we all know Rhys doesn't have the best fighting skills…"

August nodded at that and Sasha elbowed him in the stomach, causing him to let out a sharp wheeze before he clutched it and gritted his teeth.

"We can send someone to look for them, one of the Crimson Lance," Athena continued. "But at the moment we need to figure out if we can even do this…."

"Not likely, it's damn near suicide to try to take down an Eridian," August retorted.

"Luckily for you you're in the company of two people who've faced them and won," Athena replied as she nodded to Timothy, who looked a little surprised that everyone's eyes were suddenly on him before he gave a curt nod.

"Really?" Vaughn asked in interest, and Tim flushed a little before he nodded.

"It…it was a long time ago," Tim replied quietly.

"Now you're just a badass assassin," Angel declared and Sasha didn't think he could go any redder than he already had before as he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"So how did you defeat them last time?" August asked as he crossed his arms.

"Lots of guns and more than a bit of luck," Tim replied. "Not to mention we had Handsome Jack on our side."

This made Sasha and Vaughn glance at each other, as they thought of the AI currently in the machines upstairs.

There was a definite risk to trying to boot him back up again, considering they weren't sure if there was much coding left to begin with. Nate had been stripping it for so long, weakening its grip line by line of code that there was a good chance there wasn't much left of the original.

Sasha grimaced as she thought of her sister and Rhys before she gave Vaughn a curt nod.

"Maybe…maybe we still do," Vaughn declared.

 

There are flickers of images that seemed to dance on her eyelids as she heard the lowest of humming surrounding her frame.

Brief flashes of neon light that grew weaker with each passing moment, the sound of male groaning after a few moments and she struggled to open her eyes at the familiarity of the sound.

Cool stone touched her cheek as she forced her eyes open, resting her head against some stone slab as she felt something pricking her arm.

She looked down to the source, noticing with sluggish interest that there appeared to be a tube latched into her arm, a bright purple liquid with what looked like flecks of orange running down the tube and across the floor of the cavern.

The tube ended close by, attached to the arm of a man who was currently making small little groans that automatically made her stomach sink.

The man before her gritted his teeth, the markings on his arm so bright she could barely distinguish his features. His eyes were wide open, one bright amber that pulsated neon as he looked up at the roof of the cavern.

"Rhys?"

The name formed on her lips weakly as she looked at the man, as she began to remember just where she was. How she had come to be here.

A rescue mission gone wrong in the worst kind of way, Nate under the control of the Eridians and her captured by the Eridians for…what?

"Rhys?" She called out again, a little stronger this time and he finally turned his head to face her.

Her stomach dropped at how his features seemed to pulsate in time with his heartbeat, veins of bright purple flickering across his features as he looked at her with that one bright eye in confusion.

"F-Fiona?" He asked sluggishly before a figure stepped between them, a tall imposing creature wearing armour on their abnormally lean frame as their weapon was strapped to their back.

The creature muttered something as it glanced beyond Fiona, and she turned her head slightly to see it speaking to another creature who hovered over Rhys almost protectively.

"What are they saying?" Fiona asked Rhys, who frowned a little.

"Why do you expect me to know?" He retorted.

"You seemed to understand them before," she fired back and he shrugged defensively, causing the tube to jostle a little and the creature hovering over him to bang on the slab Rhys was lying on.

The creature made a sharp yelp that hurt Fiona's ears and she gritted her teeth.

"Don't move," Rhys translated as he lay back on his slab, looking up at the ceiling again.

"Oh, what, you can understand them now?" she asked in frustration, and he rolled his eyes little. "What the hell are they doing?"

"If I knew I'd tell you," he retorted, the liquid still pumping into him.

"You seemed to know when you kissed me," Fiona replied sharply, growing more frustrated as she tried to gather information on their surroundings.

They seemed to be in some grand cavern, the walls pulsating purple neon as the pair of them lay on the slabs, the light dancing off of their frames every few moments. Rhys pursed his lips before he spoke.

"That…that wasn't entirely me," he responded as his eyes flicked towards her. "It's…it's complicated."

"Isn't it always," she muttered as she tried to sit up, half-expecting the Eridians to try to hold her down. When they only glanced at her, not moving a single inch she frowned, her legs dangling over the edge of the slab as she went to pull out the tubing.

The Eridians sprang into action then, sailing towards her with weapons poised before they held them at her throat. They barked something at her and Rhys spoke.

"They're saying that you can't remove it until the process is complete," Rhys declared.

"What process?" She asked as she held up her arms in a placating gesture, and the Eridians took a few steps back.

Rhys made a sharp sort of click which the Eridians replied to quickly, causing Rhys to laugh sharply.

"You will understand in time, Ares," he declared drily.

Fiona looked at the Eridians again before she looked down at the tube, and it was then she noticed the fact she felt…stronger. The weakness she had been accumulating over the past couple of months was disappearing with each passing moment.

She looked at Rhys then, how he seemed to be going brighter and brighter and she frowned to herself as the liquid in the tube halted and then began to trickle out of her arm weakly.

The Eridians moved quickly, taking the tube out of her arm before they went to Rhys, hovering over him as they drained the last of the substance into him, muttering to themselves. Their heads turned to her every so often before they focused on Rhys.

It was then that one of them stepped forward, their hands hovering over Rhys' frame for a few seconds.

Fiona watched in horror as they gripped his skull, long hands encasing his head before they squeezed and he let out a loud scream.

She stumbled to her feet as she tried to get to him, barely thinking as she ran forward. An Eridian noticed her within moments and sent her back, her frame flying before she smacked against the ground with a loud cry. Pain radiated through her as she tried to sit up, Rhys' screams continuing until they turned into something animalistic and ethereal.

She crawled towards the source of the sound, her teeth grinding together as she tried to focus on the sound and not the pain spreading across her entire body.

She felt something flip her onto her back, a long weapon poised at her throat as the screams began to fade. Her eyes meeting soulless holes set in a white mask, its weapon poised before it lowered the weapon towards her with such fluidity she squeezed her eyes shut instinctively.

There was a sharp cry and she opened her eyes, Rhys sitting up on the slab as he looked down at her.

His hand was out instinctively towards the Eridian, his features set in a snarl as he began to mutter something to the Eridian sharply. The strange noises coming from his lips bounced around the cavern as the Eridian kept the long pole poised at her neck.

Her heart pounded as the Eridian appeared to look at Rhys before the rest of the Eridians, who only murmured something before they nodded.

There was a familiar hum that went through the air before something went through the Eridians' skull, causing it to drop to the side with a hard thump. Purple liquid seeped out of the hole and she scrambled back automatically at the acrid scent.

The Eridians watched the body crumple wordlessly for only a second, but she used the opportunity to pull herself to her feet as the Eridians scrambled to surround her.

She picked up the pole beside the dead Eridian, holding it out defensively as she ran forward, noticing a moment too late the gap between her current location and the next set of steps.

She was able to scramble to a stop, rocks crumbling from the edge and dropping into the abyss as she panted. She glanced down for a few seconds at the steep drop, taking a deep breath as she prayed to whatever was out there.

She leaped forward, her stomach plummeting as she fell forward and her chest slammed into the edge of the next platform.

She groaned before she felt a pair of hands help her up from the ledge, setting her on the platform and she opened her eyes to see a tall man with auburn hair looking down at her for a moment before he stood up and began shooting into the sea of Eridians threatening to swarm them.

"Just get yourself to the entrance," the man barked at her, and she noticed the freckles that adorned his startlingly familiar features. She only had time to contemplate it for a moment before a rumble went through the ground and the man stumbled a little, pitching forward before she caught his wrist.

He looked down into the abyss and gulped audibly, his feet hovering over the lip of the rock.

"Unless you want to die, kiddo, I suggest you run," Fiona swore she heard a familiar voice say tinnily, and the man allowed Fiona to yank him back before he looked down at the pocket watch on his lapel. It flickered blue for a second and Fiona swore she saw a familiar face looking back at her before the pair scrambled out of the cavern.

Fiona risked a glance back once they reached the entrance, watching as Rhys smoothly leapt down onto the lower platform, picking up the thin pole before he spun it expertly, the moment of his eyes meeting hers causing a sharp chill to go through her body.

**_Because there was no trace of recognition in his eyes._ **


	13. Let the Chess Game Commence

Timothy had sworn they had a plan when he had run into that cavern to retrieve Fiona…but as soon as the pair exited it seemed like everything had fallen into chaos in the moments he had disappeared.

Athena was currently throwing her shield at a group of Eridians, the Daimons flanking them falling one by one as the metal object sailed through their numbers. The shield arced back to her and she caught it easily, slinging it back to place on her arm before she began to fire her gun.

Sasha and August appeared to be working together, August helping to hoist her up as she fired into the crowds of Daimons threatening to overtake them, the pair twisting and moving around each other with such precision that Percy let out a sharp laugh.

_Clearly they had done this before._

Janey had resorted to using her fists, kicking and punching one Daimon that was having a hard time blocking her blows.

He saw a flash of black hair in the distance, white tattoos glowing as the young woman was surrounded by guns, all firing in front of her as she walked towards the Eridians with her arm poised and Tim grinned to himself.

The group seemed to be holding the Eridians back, though there didn't seem to be a decrease in the number of Eridians attacking them and Tim prepped his gun before he sprinted forward to help the team.

He glanced back to see Fiona just _staring_ in horror at the scene before them, and he was about to call out to her that she needed to get to the truck and try to run when he saw someone advancing behind her. He turned around, his gun poised to fire at them when he took note of the familiar lanky frame and the one glowing eye.

And he _hesitated_.

Because it was simple, so simple for his mind to think of the man he had helped to come back to this universe. The original one that had made him feel that strange little flutter of attraction for the first time in years, the one who was so willing time and time again to protect the woman that he was about to attack. The one who's powers first came to light because Fiona had been in danger.

Fiona seemed to follow his gaze, turning around before she somehow ducked out of the way of the incoming spear, and Tim felt the smallest amount of relief flood through him.

Across the makeshift battlefield Angel heard a sharp crack and she looked towards the source instinctively, an Eridian hovering over Timothy as the blood poured from the back of his head, the weapon in their hands dripping crimson.

The guns around her dropped immediately, and it was in the moment that she ran forward towards the crumpled form that a scream went through the air. She became weightless, hovering above the battlefield as her head whipped towards the blue-haired Siren that had her hand poised out. Her eyes glowed bright blue as she raised her weapon, and Angel barely had time to form the word "Maya" before she felt something creeping into the back of her mind.

A tempting little voice, telling her to join them in the grand fight, to take part on the destiny that Pandora deserved. That she was meant to live while the others would have to die. Because that was fate. For her to join the ranks of the Eridians, to help them wipe the planet clean and start a new golden age.

She thought wryly that her father would have been pleased in that regard, though she figured he expected to be at the helm of it.

She struggled against it, as her markings went white and the glowing began to creep into her vision, and she gritted her teeth as she was flung a short distance, the dust swirling around her.

A tall figure hovered over her and she barely had time to recognize the face when a pair of large hands squeezed around her throat.

Tanned hands pressed down on the paler skin, eyes glowing emerald and sapphire as she scratched at his arms. She kicked at him uselessly, trying to summon up enough energy to hack into the gun near her frame so she could shoot the familiar face trying to strangle her.

She didn't hesitate like Tim had, the gun already poised as those eyes looked down at her and the hands squeezed tighter, and she wondered if it was always fate for Jack to try to kill her in all universes.

Except when their eyes met…his grip released. He stumbled back, panting heavily as he clutched at his head, and she knew this was the moment to shoot him.

Except he crumpled to his knees, gritting his teeth before a neon purple liquid began to drip from his mouth as he shuddered violently. She took the gun and pointed it at his skull, willing herself to just pull the trigger.

_Remember what he did to you. What he made you become for his own selfish ambitions. How he used you to power a Vault Key, kept you locked away from the rest of the world as you pleaded and begged for him to just let you go._

The man looked up at her, mismatched eyes meeting hers before his eyes seemed to rest on her neck, probably noticing the angry red welts that were developing from where he had tightly squeezed.

He shook his head rapidly, scrambling back as another cry went through the air and he clutched his skull as the sound hummed dully in Angel's ears.

"Just shoot me please," he struggled out. "Make it stop, they're…they're trying to get in again and I…I can't let them make me hurt you."

His markings glowed brightly with each moment as he met her eyes again.

"Angel, please…" He gasped out, and she lowered the gun as she looked at the man before her.

Because she knew this couldn't be Jack, despite how much he looked like her father. Selfish, ambitious Jack who never thought of anyone but himself. Who took and took and took but never gave back.

Jack wasn't _self-sacrificial._

The shot rang through the air and she slumped forward, a Siren with fire red hair looking down at her as the man nearby struggled not to be overtaken again.

"She could have been useful," the blue haired Siren murmured and the red haired Siren shook her head.

"She was never going to join us," the woman replied.

His markings became bright and he stood up. His glowing eyes were unblinking as he approached the pair, who looked at him with a cool indifference as he joined their side.

"We need to go after the woman, eliminate her," Lilith declared to Nate, who nodded mutely as he thought of a woman with a single red streak in her brown hair. "He cannot have anything holding him back."

Sirens were powerful….but Daimons were quick. Which meant that before Lilith could even blink a sharp snap of a neck being snapped went through the air. Her markings faded in an instant, her body dropping to the ground as the blue haired Siren looked at him in shock.

"What are you…" She began before he kicked her to the ground, picking up the gun in Lilith's hands and taking a single shot to her skull. Her eyes stared at him lifelessly as he slung the gun across his back, his markings fading as his head swivelled to look at the black haired woman lying on the ground nearby.

He scrambled towards her, kneeling down before he pulled her into his lap and stroked away the blood-soaked hair, looking for any sign of life and finding none.

"Angel, please," he begged, feeling for a pulse that he knew in the back of his head he wasn't going to find. "Angel!"

She lay lifelessly in his lap, her eyes dulled and unblinking as her blood seeped into his clothing. He clutched her tightly to him and tried not to sob, her head resting against his shoulder as the battle raged on behind him.

"You need to keep moving or you're gonna have a target on your back," a familiar voice declared tinnily and he looked down to the source.

Strapped to her frame was a pocket watch, an image flickering in it of a man with quite familiar features. He pulled it from her body, looking at it as the image solidified.

"You're supposed to be gone," Nate declared in shock.

"And you will be if you don't _move_ , kiddo," AI Jack declared sharply.

Nate looked at the rest of the battlefield, at how despite the efforts of the people from Sancutary the Eridians were barely being held back.

"See, you have two options. Either you die here, or you die on a nice space station floating above this shithole. Your decision," Jack declared.

Nate knew what his response should have been. That he was willing to die here, to fight until his last breath.

But terror gripped his heart as he saw people fall one by one, Vaughn with a deep gash across his chest as he let out a sharp cry. Janey hissing as she tried to fight off the Eridians that were going to overtake her, Athena doing her best to defend herself as well as her girlfriend. August collapsing as Sasha screamed, firing wildly at the Eridians and Daimons as tears streamed down her features.

"Think of them, Nate. Of the little girl you would leave for Hyperion to exploit if they knew the extent of her powers. Of the little boy in a hospital bed you want to save so desperately," AI Jack continued.

He hated how Jack knew exactly what to say, and yet he was more livid with himself for how right Jack was.

He had seen what Hyperions would do for their own selfish ambition, something he had struggled so desperately to protect his children from. He couldn't even fathom what they would do to Angel, if they would even keep Rhys alive if Nate died here.

"What…what do I need to do to get the latter?" Nate asked with a grimace, and he knew without looking that Jack was smirking.

"Just follow everything I say," he purred. "First things first…I need you to get something from Lynchwood."

 

No one seemed to notice the tall figure that slipped away from the battle, too caught up in their own fights as they struggled to survive.

Athena was the next to fall, Janey within moments of her as they over overtaken by the Eridians.

Anyone that the Eridians did not need for their golden age was eliminated as efficiently as possible, bodies falling one by one until only two members of Sanctuary remained. A woman with a red streak in her hair, and a man who was advancing upon her as she tried to fend him off.

He was too fast for her, the blows she tried to deal using the weapon she had picked up off of one of the rare Eridians to die barely hitting him as he moved around her gracefully.

She knew this was supposed to be the cliché moment that she was supposed to beg with whatever shred of humanity was left in him, beg him not to kill her. Say that she knew there was a part of him that still knew who she was. That they could fight this together.

But Fiona had always been a realist. And she knew there was no hope of whatever Rhys she knew remaining.

She had figured it out, that they had taken the Eridium in her blood and given it to him to make him stronger, and in that process they had taken whatever shred of humanity was left in him. He was too powerful to be human anymore, and she knew she should be terrified.

But a strange sort of calmness went through her as she looked out onto the battlefield, saw the chaos and ruin that the Eridians had brought with them. How Sasha was slumped over August's body, most likely hit when she kneeled down to try to keep him alive.

She had never got to tell her she was happy for her sister's engagement, and the thought made a sharp pain go through her chest.

The blow landed on her side and she screamed as it felt like every organ was going to tear apart at the hit, collapsing as Rhys hovered over her. Eyes still unseeing, his weapon poised at her throat as she looked up at him and smiled softly.

"Guess you couldn't keep that promise, could you?" She asked rhetorically, and she closed her eyes.

A series of screams went through the air as the ground rumbled underneath them, but the blow never came. She opened her eyes hesitantly to see Rhys leaning over her protectively, his markings blazing but his eyes clear as he sprang forward, attacking the Eridians that appeared to be screaming at him.

She sat up shakily as Rhys tore through them, expertly knocking them down as they tried to swarm him, fighting off hoard after hoard of white masks.

"Fiona, run, now!" Rhys barked as she watched him, his figure darting in and out of the crowd. "I can keep them at bay for a bit…"

She forced herself to stand, clutching her side as she picked up the pole beside her.

"And miss all the action? You're kidding me right?" She retorted as she approached the group, and she swore she saw Rhys grin from ear to ear.

"Never can convince you of anything, can I?" He asked as she began to try to knock down the Eridians, mimicking him to the best of her ability.

"I thought that's what you loved about me," she retorted and he laughed sharply.

"Amongst other things," he replied.

An Eridian knocked him on the side and he stumbled, and Fiona ran forward before she tried to hit them only for them to spring back gracefully.

Another Eridian hit her back and she hissed before she wheeled on them, trying to get a decent blow and failing miserably.

Rhys seemed to be fighting them off only slightly, each passing moment causing more blows to land on the both of them.

There wasn't a precise moment that she knew they could not succeed. That this was going to end here, that whatever the Eridians had planned for Pandora was going to come to fruition.

But there wasn't a chance in hell she wasn't going to go down fighting. She owed the friends that had fallen that much at least.

"So what's your plan after this?" Fiona asked as they fought side by side.

"A good stiff drink at the Purple Skag before I take a nap," he replied and she laughed, the sound strangled. "You?"

"Once you wake up from that nap, we're going to leave Pandora. Go to one of the Edens, start fresh. You can fix tech and I can use my conning to get us some cash. Hell, maybe you can start another weapons' company. This universe will need one after all this."

Rhys was struck across the back and he hissed before he nodded.

"And after that I'm going to ride you so hard your bones might break," Fiona declared and Rhys laughed sharply.

"Think the Eridians are going to beat you to that one," Rhys retorted. "But I'll hold you to it."

A blow across her spine.

"I hope you do."

A crack across his head.

"Rhys?"

He stumbled, falling to his knees.

"Yeah?"

A matching blow to her temple, the bones cracking.

"Seems fitting. Y'know….meant to be."

He chuckled weakly as they both collapsed in the dirt.

"Would you think I'm stupid if I said I don't regret a single thing?"

_I love you, Vault-hunting scum._

They knew the final blow was coming, and they grinned at each other through the blood that streamed down their faces.

"That might be the smartest thing you've ever said, Rhys."

_Love you too, you Atlas jackass._

They clasped hands.

The Eridians struck down, weapons jamming into skulls as the light faded from both their eyes.

 

_She picked up one of the guns between long fingers, inspecting it before she tossed it to the ground._

_"We have succeeded," her companion murmured as they fell into step with her, easily stepping over the corpses of the fallen as they assessed the damage. "Yet you do not seem to be pleased."_

_"He was not meant to die," she retorted sharply, anything non-Eridian in a short distance clawing at their ears in pain at the sharp cry. "He was meant to lead us into the golden age we deserved."_

_The pair looked at the young man that lay on the ground, his markings a dull blue as his mismatched eyes looked at them lifelessly._

_"He was not meant to betray us," the other replied calmly, looking at the woman who lay beside him. "Come, we must go."_

_The Vault glowed brightly and she watched multiple Eridians step through, each absorbed by the bright light that cast shadows across the battlefield._

_"I do not understand why this upsets you," the other continued. "You have seen this time and time again…the last details were just altered. Pandora was meant to fall. He was just not in the right place or on the right side. Just another pitiful human like the rest, who wanted more than he deserved."_

_Her companion slipped away, and she stood there. Looking out at the sea of corpses before her, Eridian and human alike, all sacrificed for a war that was meant to happen again._

_It was destiny, after all. For the Eridians to eventually take over Pandora again, to assume their rightful place before the cycle would restart. For the Eridians to disappear, to allow the humans to flourish before they would have to return to wipe them out again once they became too greedy._

_This was supposed to be their period of celebration, their own grand civilization back on Pandora to flourish before they would have to leave. When the cycle restarted and the humans who arrived from other planets began to want more, when it was no longer safe for them to remain._

_She knelt down beside the body of the woman, her long finger prodding her arm before she saw something that interested her._

_There was long, ugly welts on the woman's arm, that with each touch of the Eridian flashed a pale orange in familiar markings._

_The humans didn't know of these. The failed Sirens. The ones that fate did not choose to take on the path of hardship. If you thought like a human, it was a blessing. If you thought like an Eridian, it was a missed opportunity for someone on their side._

 

**_Maybe it was the amount of times she had seen this happen._ **

 

_All this waste that would lead to her people's rebirth on the planet only for their existence to disappear once the humans returned._

_Even the Eridians could not escape fate, apparently._

 

**_Maybe she was just tired._ **

 

_She stood up, walking towards the Vault before the cool light enveloped her. She nodded to her fellow Eridians, high ranking enough that they stepped aside to let her pass as she approached the casket._

_She opened it easily, bright light basking her features before it cleared._

_Line upon line were interwoven, all the strings stretching across the casket as they pulsated. Some lines were faded, of universes they had already conquered Pandora in, that had already met their conclusion for the time being. They looked like strings of yarn, resting at the bottom of the casket. Others glowed brightly, of universes in their humble beginnings,and it was one of these that she pulled to the surface._

_The line pulsated between blue and white, and there was a small spark as an image flashed of a man holding a sick boy to his chest as he smoothed down his hair._

_She moved her fingertips a little to the right, to that same boy in the arms of the young man, gangly and unsure as he held the small child who began to wail as its mother drew her last breaths._

_A little to the left, and she saw a little girl dancing in front of a crowd, her hair braided back as she sang and an elder girl made her way through the crowd, easily slipping money out of their pockets._

_The Eridian focused on that moment, on the ugly markings on the elder girl's arm, and then she flicked the string._

_A hand shot out of the crowd, grabbing the girl's wrist before they chuckled sharply._

_"What are you doing?" The woman asked with interest, their grey markings in stark contrast to their tanned skin, and when the girl tried to pull away the grip only got tighter. "C'mon, we both know that's not yours to take."_

_The elder girl struggled to get away and the woman knelt down._

_"What do you need that for, anyways?" The woman asked, and the elder girl replied honestly._

_"Food," she spat, and the woman grinned._

_"Well you're in luck. I'm passing through with my team and we happen to have a lot of food to spare. If you want, once your sister is done, come to this address. I'll make sure to leave something out for you."_

_The woman winked at her before she released her arm, slipping away and the elder girl looked down at the note._

_She motioned for her sister to stop singing, and the little girl gave a dramatic bow as people clapped. The pair scampered off, towards the food they so desperately wanted, and it wasn't until they were halfway across the city that some of the people noticed they no longer had their wallets._

_If the Eridian could smile, she would have as she noticed the elder girl's scars begin to glow the faintest of oranges._

 

**_Maybe she thought one universe deserved a different fate for Pandora than the one that had been written and rewritten for millennia._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well kiddos, we have reached the end. 
> 
> I know I do this on every last chapter of my stories, but I really mean it. Thank you so much for reading my story, leaving wonderful little comments on it that never cease to make me grin like a loon and giving me suggestions for what to improve. 
> 
> My next story, Glimpses of Chaos, is not so much a continuation as a tale from another universe. One where hopefully Rhys and Fiona will get the happily ever after they rightfully deserve. 
> 
> And one where maybe a decent kind of Jack can get at least a shred of happiness in his life....


	14. Epilogue: The Start of A New Tale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While the saga of Fiona and Rhys has concluded, the tale of a young woman has only just begun....

It's a ghost town in every definition of the word. Hell, she swore she saw a tumbleweed roll by a few moments ago.

 _Perfect place to send an amnesiac_ , she thought drily as she descended down the metal stairs, her footfalls making small clacks with each step.

Something skittered in the brush as she reached the bottom, and she tensed as a Skag emerged, its jowls dripping.

It didn't seem to notice her at first, and she almost smiled in relief until it turned its head, cocking its head before it approached.

She scanned her surroundings for a weapon as it stalked towards her, trying to figure out if there was any possibility she could defend herself.

She must have known at some point, she was at least aware of that fact. No one survived on Pandora otherwise.

_Wait, what was Pandora?  Is…is that where she was?_

She tried to remember anything else, but her mind was blank. Whatever had been there once had somehow been wiped away. 

Making her only other thought besides her confusion that it might be best to just bolt back up that metal staircase. She had survival instincts after all.

Except the Skag charged, its tongue lolling out of its cavernous mouth as it skidded to a halt in front of her.

It forcefully nudged itself into her hand, and despite her fear she found her hand brushing over the creature's plating. She laughed in her shock as it sounded like it was purring.

She glanced into the abandoned town again, looking for any sign of life. Or any signage in general.

She took a few steps forward, the Skag nudging into her hand every time she hesitated, almost as if it was encouraging her to keep moving.

Okay, her first priority needed to be to find some information about her location.

Her stomach rumbled loudly and the Skag imitated the sound.

Alright then…her first priority needed to be food.

 

The dust swirled around her legs as she walked through the town, the Skag on her heels and she smiled a little at how strange the image would be for anyone watching them.

A pale woman with cropped black hair, in a t-shirt and jeans, walking beside a red plated Skag that was circling around her feet every few moments like an overexcited kitten.

She chewed on some rations she had found after a few hours of searching, the tin in what had once been the general store.

She was looking for anything that could tell her about the town itself when something startled her.

"Hey! You!" A voice barked out and she froze instantly, her heart pounding as her eyes darted around looking for a weapon. She looked down at the red Skag who looked up at her expectantly, it's tongue lolling out of its mouth before it darted away.

"Shit," she hissed as the Skag went into one of the buildings. She heard it scuffling around in there before it returned, nearly banging into her leg before it dropped something at her feet.

"Hey! You!" The voice called out again, coming from the ground. She looked down to see a device that shone silver in the dirt, and she glanced at the Skag who proceeded to nudge it towards her. She tentatively knelt down and picked it up, brushing the dirt off its surface before she accidentally brushed the button at the side.

"Are you sick of constantly needing to fight off bandits trying to take your well-earned money? Do you want to live in the safety of a city constantly monitored by robots built for your protection? Are you looking to make a fresh start?" The device declared. "Then come to Opportunity, the pride of Hyperion!"

"Opportunity?" She muttered to herself, glancing around the desert landscape. Is _that_ where she was?

She looked up from the device to see a wall covered in dirt, a set of clean-picked skeletons at the base of it and she shuddered a little.

_So much for protection of its citizens._

She heard a sharp series of sparks nearby and automatically darted into a nearby doorway, gritting her teeth as she had to shove aside a board covered in a sticky substance that came off on her fingers.

She wiped her hands on her pants as she muttered to herself in disgust before she heard a triumphant cry go through the town and she knelt down instinctively. She slipped further into the building, her heart pounding as she heard someone walking through the dirt.

She risked a glance out into the town square, her eyes falling on a pair of sneakers before her eyes travelled up a pair of legs clad in jeans. Her eyes kept going up, taking in the stocky man wearing what looked like a faded yellow sweater with some message in white emblazoned across it, covered by a dress shirt under a vest. A grey jacket was thrown on top of the rest and she wondered how he wasn't boiling in the Pandoran sun. Her eyes finally rested on the face, taking in the long features covered by a pale mask…and she wondered why she became frustrated with herself all of a sudden.

As if she was angry at herself for not recognizing him…but it wasn't like she _could_. She barely remembered her own name for crap's sake, how could she expect herself to even know who this man was?

The man looked down at her, their eyes meeting and her heart sunk into her stomach as a slow grin spread across his features.

Her mind screamed that she was in danger, a primal reaction that this man could easily overpower her as he approached her confidently, and her hands scrambled to find something as he advanced.

Each step caused the surrounding sand to swirl up around his feet, the dust dancing around in the air as she tried to steady her hands long enough to grip onto something she could use as a weapon.

He was almost in the doorway when her fingers closed around cool wood, and she looked back to see that she was gripping a pistol. Before she could think about it she was checking for bullets, wondering where the gut reaction came from as the man appeared in the doorway.

She took note of the gun at his hip, the wide smirk as he looked down at her, and her heart pounded as he opened his mouth to speak.

Except the only thing to escape those lips was a cry of surprise as she pulled the trigger, the smile slackening as the sound of the gun firing rang in her ears before he collapsed.

She looked down at the gun in horror before she dropped it, as her mind scrambled to figure out _why she had just shot him without a moment of hesitation._

Crap, she **had** had other options. She could have **talked** with him, seen what he wanted. Hell, maybe he had been friendly, only looking for the possibility of people still being alive in the town that he could then rescue.

_And she had just killed him. Fan-fricking-tastic._

Except…there was a part of her that was _relieved_. Like she had avoided something horrible, though she was starting to grow frustrated as to why she was having these gut reactions based on **things she couldn't remember.**

She stood up shakily, looking at the body slumped in the doorway before she looked at the gun.

She picked it up, making sure to click on the safety before she slipped it into her back pocket.

She looked back at the body before her, taking in the nice clothes as the sun began to set in the town.

A cold breeze suddenly went through the town and she shuddered, rubbing her arms as she looked back down at the body.

Maybe the guy had not been so crazy after all to wear so many layers.

She glanced around, her stomach churning a little as she knelt down beside the body.

The bullet wound was still pulsating blood, though away from the clothes and she shuddered again as another cold breeze came.

"Sorry," she murmured as she slipped off the jacket. "But I think I need these more than you do."

 

She huddled into the yellow sweater and jacket as she looked for a place to sleep, the Skag on her heels as she came across a building that looked somewhat hospitable.

She slipped inside, noticing that most of the building had been looted, pictures torn off the walls and bare hooks everywhere.

She climbed up the stairs uncertainly as the Skag seemed to curl up in what remained of the living room, passing out within moments.

The simple cot was a welcome sight, and she lay down on it as she curled underneath the jacket that swam on her.

She closed her eyes before she drifted off as well, the large amount of exhaustion she didn't even realize she had overtaking her. 

 

_Lynchwood._

That was the name of the town she was in…well, if the notice board was any indication.

She noted with interest there were a few notes tacked to the board, all yellowed from the constant sun and all coated in a fine layer of dirt, most of them illegible.

The next few weeks she spent exploring the town from top to bottom, making sure to avoid the block where she knew the dead body lay.

She wasn't sure she could handle seeing it decompose, or worse, being picked apart by whatever creatures she heard scuffling around at night.

She felt a scaly head nudge into her shoulder and she smiled to herself as she sat on the train platform, organizing what rations she could gather from the abandoned buildings. She scratched under the creature's chin and heard it purr with pleasure, causing her to laugh before she tossed it some scraps that it gobbled down happily.

The red-plated Skag had come to be her companion of sorts in all this madness, and it felt strangely nice to be able to talk to someone, even if they couldn't talk back.

"I'm going to call you Ruby," she murmured to herself one day as she slipped her newest hoarde of rations back into her bag. She looked at the Skag and smiled. "You like that?"

The creature cocked its head before it sat down with a firm thump and she laughed.

"Ruby it is then," she continued as she chewed on the bread.

The same routine continued for the next few weeks, all blending together into a series of hunting for rations, eating said rations, trying to gather information and then eventually needing to sleep.

It was…comforting, in a strange sort of way. Plus she took an odd sort of pleasure in being able to roam around the town as she desired, though she could have gone without feeling like multiple pairs of eyes from the brush were watching her sometimes.

 

It was the day that she realized the rations were beginning to run out that she decided she might be better to leave town, try to find somewhere populated enough that she could easily find food.

She was in the basement of her headquarters (which, upon further inspection she realized used to be the Sheriff's house), her eyes roaming over the map when a loud thump went through the town. She jerked up from her hunched position, stuffing the map into her bag before she stood up fully and pulled out her pistol.

She cocked it, the clicking noise bouncing through the basement and she swallowed as she was greeted with a few moments of tense silence.

Another sharper tremor went through the ground and she nearly fell over, the gun slipping from her grasp before it skidded across the floor. She scrambled after it, picking it up quickly as the tremors began to increase and she fell.

She gave out a sharp cry as her body collided with the ground, somehow managing to get to her feet as the ground continued to rumble.

"Ruby! Get down here!" She barked, the Skag skidding in front of the door before it ran down the stairs, and she forced her way back up them to slam shut the door.

It was then that a violent tremor went through the building and she stumbled, misjudging where the previous step was before she flew down the stairs.

She violently crashed into the ground, luckily landing on her front rather than her back. _She didn't even want to contemplate what would have happened if she had hit her head._

 Too bad her wrists caught the brunt of the damage, one of them cracking as a sharp pain went up her arm and she bit back a scream as the ground continued to tremor.

She curled into herself, gripping her arm tightly as she bit back her whimpers of pain, praying for the tremors to cease as she closed her eyes.

 

_The man walks through the town, his hand poised at his hip to withdraw his gun despite the fact he knows that he is probably the last person left on the planet._

_The man in the pocket watch tells him where to go, which streets to take as they search for their whole reason for coming here._

_They find Jack's body first, and the man in the pocket watch made a sharp click of his tongue in frustration before he tells his companion to keep moving._

_Nate tries not to dwell on the sight of a body so similar to his own rotted, pieces torn off by Skags as he keeps moving._

_They find the building eventually, or at least, what remains of it in the rumble. The door leading to the basement is wide open, likely blown open by the sheer impact of the tremors and the man goes down the stairs hesitantly._

_The woman at the foot of the stairs is breathing shallowly, one of her arms clearly infected as her skin is cool to the touch._

_Nate is struck with the impulse to brush her hair out of her eyes, black and clumsily chopped as she continues to struggle to breathe._

_He recognizes her features after a few moments, though he is not used to seeing them in glorious technicolour and his mouth falls open in shock._

_"How is this possible?" Nate asks Jack, who only grins._

_"Funny what you can do with a bit of coding and a New-U device," he retorted. "Less talking, we need to move."_

_Nate gingerly picks up the woman, resting her head against his chest as he carries her out of the rubble. He sees nearby a red plated Skag watch him cautiously, and he gives it a curt nod before he keeps moving._

_"How is she going to help me get back to my own universe?" Nate asks Jack._

_"Patience, my handsome chum. All will be revealed soon enough. You just need to trust ol Jackie to take care of you."_

_Nate sighed to himself._

_He didn't like that prospect._

_But Jack had not led him astray so far…and it wasn't like he had much of a choice, now did he?_


End file.
